


A Stranger in a Stranger World

by megastarstrike



Category: Super Smash Brothers
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, M/M, Post-Canon (Mother 3), Slow Burn, Subspace Emissary (Super Smash Brothers), claus lives, spoilers for Mother 3
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-31
Updated: 2019-05-19
Packaged: 2019-12-29 21:48:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 30,816
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18302543
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/megastarstrike/pseuds/megastarstrike
Summary: Being forced to relive memories, facing an antagonist beyond comprehension, and almost dying were pretty par for the course in Lucas's universe. Meeting new people was as well, but there was something about being unwillingly dragged into a battle nobody knew existed that brought even people from different universes together.





	1. In the Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to pastelbandana for betaing. Ily buddy

The day the letter came, the house of three was flipped upside down.

“Lucas! Dude!” Claus shook Lucas by the shoulders, sending the other stumbling to regain his footing. “You have to go!”

It was supposed to be another peaceful, sunny day in Tazmily, but apparently Claus and those adjectives had never met before in his life. He had rocketed off his seat in the dining room and grabbed Lucas by the collar, dragging him up from his seat. Now, his eyes glittered with excitement.

Lucas held his hand to his head after Claus released him. The world whirled around him as he sat back down, then he patted Boney, who rested his head on Lucas’s lap. “Can… Can we talk about it first?”

“We  _ are _ talking about it.”

“You know what I mean.”

“No. Care to tell me?”

“Boys,” Flint said, holding up a hand. He waited until the two’s gazes were on him before speaking again. “Lucas, I ain’t gonna encourage you to do anything you don’t want to do, but I do think you should at least give it a try.”

“It’s two years away from home,” Lucas said.

“I… I know.”

The household fell silent. 

It had been four years since Lucas had his final confrontation with the Masked Man and managed to wrangle Claus out of his brainwashing and back home. But as much as he did, he couldn’t reverse the consequences of some actions. Namely, the empty fourth chair at their dinner table.

Claus glanced down at his metal right forearm, his face blank as it whirred softly.

Flint raised his hand to the middle of his chest, where he knew two burns were etched into his skin.

Boney’s tail stopped wagging.

Then a tiny flame appeared on the tip of Lucas’s pointed finger, and he stared deeply into the light.

Lucas shut his eyes as he thought. He was content living his life in Tazmily with his family, playing with Boney and his twin brother and repairing his relationship with his father. Not everything was okay—it would never be. Still, he liked this life.

But he was sixteen now, almost seventeen. He wasn’t the shy crybaby he was when he was younger, and this was the opportunity of a lifetime. Logically, he should take it.

Lucas picked up the letter, his thumb tracing the outline of the Smash circle. “I think…”

The other three raised their heads.

“I think I’ll go.”

 

* * *

 

Lucas regretted everything. But judging by the death grip Claus had on his wrist, the tension in Flint’s shoulders, and the way Boney whined before his family left the house, he wasn’t alone in that feeling.

The trio faced the airplane gate. Lucas’s carry-on bag was slung over his shoulder. His knuckles were white from the sheer force he clenched his bag with, but he walked forward nonetheless. People moved out of their way, each person headed for a different destination for a different purpose. Lucas briefly wondered if anybody else could be headed to the same island he was.

“Lucas, are you sure you want to go?” Claus chuckled, but there was no humor in his voice. “I mean… spending two years fighting other really strong people is kinda dangerous, don’t you think?”

He was one to talk. Still, the concern in his voice was real and valid, albeit dressed up in a casual tone, and Lucas couldn’t help but feel a bit of guilt gnawing at him.

Lucas sighed. “We can’t feel pain onstage. When we die, we get turned into trophies, which is always revived by the other competitor. I’ll be fine.” When he saw that the worry in Claus’s eyes didn’t fade, he squeezed his hand and smiled. “Really, I’ll be okay. I’ll call you if I’m not.”

Claus hesitated before releasing his hand and folding it into a thumbs up. His following smile was shaky but genuine. “Knock ‘em dead, Lucas! Show them what you’re made of!”

“Cells?”

“Sarcastic quips, apparently.”

Flint set a heavy hand on Lucas’s shoulder, interrupting whatever response he would have had. He pursed his lips, almost as if he was hesitant to say something. “I’m… I’m proud of you, son.”

Lucas couldn’t remember the last time anyone had told him that.

He felt a hot surge of tears rushing to his eyes, but he reined it back and smiled. “Thanks, Dad.”

And he was certain Flint couldn’t remember the last time Lucas called him that.

“All aboard for flight 34!” an announcer shouted. They unlocked the door to the plane and stepped aside to allow guests inside.

Lucas separated himself from his family’s side. He took a deep breath, then joined the line.

“You’d better call us every day!” Claus shouted over the noise.

Lucas took a moment to turn around and flash the identifying hexagonal shapes of PK Love at them before boarding the plane with a heavy heart.

 

* * *

Now that Lucas was seated between a man with a  _ freaking sword _ and a younger figure with a  _ freaking sword, _ he was really starting to regret his decision.

The Smashers were seated in a large, blue stadium suspended in the air. The front row of twelve already seemed familiar with each other, their exchanges ranging from respectful nods to enthusiastic hugs. Lucas’s row behind them contained a mixture of reactions. Being in the middle row, Lucas couldn’t see behind him, but judging by the quiet whispers behind him, the last row was just as lost as he was. The sun shined over them, yet everything felt lukewarm, not boiling hot. It was a strange world.

Then a gloved white hand materialized in front of them.

Lucas blinked but settled in his seat. It wasn’t the weirdest thing he had seen. Other Smashers were either too jaded from their own universes to respond, frozen in shock, or actively screaming.

The hand’s fingers drooped. Then it snapped. Silence followed the motion.

“That’s better,” came a booming, disembodied voice.

The back row of characters looked around while the front row and some in the middle leaned back, positively amused by the reactions.

The hand brushed itself off with a finger. “I am Master Hand, the figure you see before you. I will be supervising every event that happens on this island. My responsibilities are ensuring everyone is fed, arranging tournaments, sending out notifications for battles, and everything in between.” He paused. “Though you will be responsible for more personal duties like laundry and cleaning up after yourself. I am a supervisor, not a maid. But on another note, the stage you are on right now is called the Mid-Air Stadium. It can transform into a variety of different stages.” 

Master Hand snapped once more.

The blue skies turned pitch black. The previously gym-like platform transformed into a floating, dark blue platform with a futuristic design carved into it. Master Hand seemed illuminated compared to the darkness behind him. It was simultaneously beautiful and terrifying.

Then as quickly as it transformed into the menacing stage, it turned back to its previous state.

“That stage was Final Destination,” Master Hand said, “There are a variety of other stages you can play on.”

Lucas and the characters around him nodded along with the rest of Master Hand’s introduction. Everything seemed relatively straightforward: everyone was free to explore the island, everyone would receive a notification if they were called for a battle (though a schedule would be posted a few days beforehand), modes of transportation to the stadium were given on an individual basis, and they were encouraged to make friends.

Judging by the reluctant looks on their faces as they looked around the crowd, that last part would be a problem.

Master Hand sighed, his fingers drooping once more before he returned to his normal position. “Would the newcomers like a demonstration?”

Silence.

“I’ll take that as a yes. Ness, Kirby, please come up.”

An excited “Okay!” and equally enthusiastic shout came from the first row. Two figures, one a pink blob and the other a boy just a bit shorter than Lucas, hopped onstage. While the pink blob floated to the stage by taking in air multiple times, the boy double-jumped in the air, a white spark highlighting his jump.

Wait.

Lucas glanced down at his feet, recalling the moveset he had been allowed.

That was  _ his _ jump. They had the exact same double-jump.

Another booming voice came from offstage. “On the right side, Kirby. On the left side, Ness.”

Ness. That was his name.

“Three, two, one, go!”

With that, Kirby dashed towards Ness. Before it could make contact, Ness sent out a shot of flames and shouted, “PK Fire!” 

PK Fire. What a coincidence, that was in Lucas’s moveset as well (though he noted his ability wasn’t quite as angled downwards as Ness’s was).

The vortex trapped Kirby inside. Ness leaned forward for a grab, but Kirby slashed up and down with a blade, bringing Ness with him for the ride. A few attacks later, Ness had been sent completely offstage. He double-jumped, but it wasn’t enough.

“PK Thunder!” he said, a blue ball of electricity circling around to send him flying back onstage and directly into Kirby.

He could use PK Thunder on himself? They had the same move; if Ness could use it to attack the opponent, so could Lucas, though he had to admit he had never thought about using the move like that.

The battle continued, and Lucas took the opportunity to add to his list of observations. They shared PSI Magnet and PK Starstorm. Thankfully, the rest of their moveset was different, and the abilities that were the same were noticeably different as well. Lucas should be thrilled there was another PSI user present (and he was), but something about their similar movesets chilled him to the bone.

Eventually, the battle ended with Kirby smacking Ness offstage with a fiery hammer. Ness’s statue clattered to the ground. Kirby dashed forward and touched the base with its hand (not quite a hand. Appendage?), then the statue shined a bright white before Ness emerged, as alive as he had been before the battle. The two shook hands then waved towards the cheering audience.

Master Hand flung them back to their seats, then dismissed the crowd. Some stayed on the stadium for a team battle while others set out towards the Smash Mansion or to explore the island.

Lucas frowned. He had no reason to go back to the Smash Mansion—he had already unpacked earlier and explored the rooms. So then should he explore the island?

Yeah. He’ll do that.

 

* * *

Lucas didn’t know whose idea it was to keep a creepy, ruined zoo on an island with a bunch of fighters, but he was certain he didn’t like it.

Plants wrapped around ceilings and grew between the cracks of the lumpy stairs. Only the steel frames of the buildings that previously made up the zoo remained, the rest either degraded to nothing or lying in wrecks around the area. Dark clouds hung overhead, and the water was murky. The whole zoo felt ominous, as if something would attack him at any moment.

Lucas whipped around and flung a string of fire behind him, only to realize there was nobody there. He stared at the empty space, frozen, before brushing off his shirt and pretending that never happened.

This was creepy. He was out.

Lucas took a deep breath then dashed out of the zoo.

 

* * *

Lucas’s first match was against a blonde woman in a tight blue outfit on a green stage with a white outline and a strange red and white design in the middle. Crowds cheered as the two stepped onstage.

“Newcomer match!” the announcer declared, to which the audience applauded. “On the right, Zero Suit Samus from the Metroid series. On the left, Lucas from the Earthbound series. Stage: Pokemon Stadium.”

Samus’s tapping foot revealed she, too, probably had no idea what she was going to do. Her gaze flickered around the audience before locking onto Lucas.

Lucas froze. He remained still for a moment before awkwardly offering a small wave.

Samus raised an eyebrow at the motion. A few seconds later, its meaning clicked, and she offered him an equally small smile.

Nice to know his opponent wasn’t mean. They were newcomers (well, at least partially). Newcomers needed to have each others’ backs.

The announcer spoke again. “Three, two, one, go!”

The two dashed forward, excitement crackling between them.

(He would end up losing, but that was okay. He shook Samus’s hand at the end, content that he had at least performed his best.)

 

* * *

The first team battle was always the hardest, according to the veterans who had passed Lucas on his way to his first match. He never doubted them, but perhaps he should have given them a tad more credit, because this was possibly one of the most irritating fights he had ever been in.

Whoever made this island must have had a personal vendetta against him, because there was no way Lucas could ever bring himself to fight properly on a stage replicating New Pork City, much less with the stupid Empire Porky Building looming over them.

Lucas closed his eyes before entering the battlefield, his fists clenched so hard his knuckles were white.

_ Claus is alive. Porky is gone. Claus is not the Masked Man, he’s your twin. He’s safe with Dad. Tazmily Village modernized a lot, right? He’s probably watching this broadcast right now. _

Lucas opened his eyes and slid onstage with a Mr. Saturn coffee table.

The other three characters onstage were scattered around the map. His partner had spawned on a platform above him while their opponents were nearby on a platform above both of them.

Like always, the announcer spoke first. “Blue team: Pikachu and Toon Link. Red team: Lucas and Ness.”

His partner was Ness? The same person who could use PSI?

“Three, two, one, go!”

His partner immediately hopped down to Lucas’s platform and sent out a burst of PK Thunder, confirming his suspicions. The PK Thunder hit the wall. Pikachu dashed towards Ness while he was still vulnerable, but Ness managed to grab Pikachu before the attack could make contact.

Lucas made eye contact with Toon Link, both of their weapons raised but neither quite knowing what to do. He hazarded a PK Freeze towards Toon Link.

Toon Link jumped to dodge the attack, then charged his arrow. Before he could release it, Lucas sent a crackle of energy his way. 

The fight had finally started.

The next two minutes were a blur. All Lucas knew was that everyone was down on their last stock and all friendly feelings were eradicated. Still, everyone was still at a relatively low percentage, so the round should last longer.

Then a familiar pink creature spawned directly underneath where all four of them were about to land, and Lucas’s heart sank.

There was no time to think. Lucas tossed the unknown item he held at the enemy team before leaping to another platform. He shut his eyes tightly and held his hands over his ears, but the screams of both his partner and the enemy team failed to be silenced.

“Game!” the announcer said, then New Pork City faded around him along with the memories. The floor was colored the same stadium blue, and there was no Empire Porky Building. The crowd cheered as the announcer declared the red team the winners.

Lucas shook himself out of the shock and revived everyone’s trophies. He exchanged handshakes and smiles with the three other players, hoping nobody could detect the slight tremor in his hands.

Later when Pikachu and Toon Link separated from them, Ness grabbed Lucas by the hand and stared him directly in the eyes.

“Can I ask you a question?” Ness said.

It wasn’t like he had a choice in the matter, with the iron grip Ness had on his hand. Lucas nodded and readied himself to use an attack if he had to.

Then Ness’s eyes sparkled as he leaned in. “That thing you did with the pink dog was so cool! How did you know to avoid it? Is it a PSI thing I don’t know about?” He continued rambling, and Lucas was left dizzy from the mood whiplash.

It was at this moment Lucas realized he had been giving his peers too much credit. The majority of them may have been heroes in their universes, but in this one, they were all a bunch of happy nerds. It was nice, in a way.

A few seconds passed before Lucas decided he should probably answer the question. “Um, no,” Lucas said, his voice quiet but still managing to silence Ness’s avalanche of questions. “That’s the Ultimate Chimera. It’s in my universe. If it catches you, you’ll immediately die."

“Oh, okay,” Ness said, nodding his head in understanding. “It sucks you guys have to deal with something like that. The worst thing we’ve got other than the obvious is some tentacle guy with a weird smile.”

“I’m sure your universe has its fair share of dangerous things, too. It’s not like it’s a contest.”

“Yeah, I know. Just wanted to compliment you on the battle. Those were some nice instincts.” Ness grinned and patted him on the shoulder. “I’ll catch you later, okay?"

“Okay?”

And with that, Ness walked away, holding his baseball bat horizontally behind his head and whistling a tune.

… Well, that was strange.

_ But not bad, _ Lucas noted as he strolled to his room. In fact, he was delighted nobody had laughed at him yet. Most of the people living with him seemed nice. Maybe he wouldn’t regret his decision after all.

But first.

Lucas pulled out his phone and sent a quick text.  _ You’re alive, right? _

Claus’s response came in a split second.  _ Lucas wtf. I guess so. Ive got a heartbeat and everything. _ Then a few seconds later, more hesitantly,  _ is something wrong? _

_ No, _ Lucas responded,  _ Just felt like starting up conversation. _

 

* * *

Despite the positive feelings from the sportsmanship after a match, the mansion was as empty as it was on the first day. Some friendships between the original twelve and those who were invited last season had formed, but they weren’t plentiful enough to make the mansion seem like it wasn’t a graveyard.

Lucas walked into the training room. Aside from another teenager with a red cap and a strange red and white ball in his hand, it was completely empty. The others probably trained separately on the island to avoid contact with one another (But to be fair, Lucas couldn’t judge them. He had come to the training room solely because he knew it would be empty).

The other teenager briefly made eye contact with him before looking away and commanding a blue, turtle-like creature to spray water at a sandbag.

Pleasant interaction.

Lucas walked to the far side of the room away from them and began training.

 

* * *

 

_ Homesick… _

Lucas’s head whipped up from his phone. He frantically scanned the area around him, but nothing was out of place.

The thought was loud, and it wasn’t his. It couldn’t be. He was just texting his family and they had sent a video of Boney a few minutes ago.

_ Miss everyone… _

Again, not his.

Lucas stretched his face, freezing his hands in an effort to wake himself up. He broke his hands from the ice before sending a goodbye text and standing up from his bed. He had a match in an hour; as much as he wanted to, he couldn’t solve this mystery at the moment.

Lucas left his room and headed for the stadium, where Mario and Kirby were scheduled to fight before him. Watching one round wouldn’t be a big deal, right?

Red clouds and purple orbs followed him.


	2. Subspace Emissary

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi. this chapter is 10k-11k words i think. im dead. also i took some creative liberties with subspace, but i did try to make it as accurate as possible.

Cheers erupted from the audience as Mario and Kirby’s statues were thrown onstage and revived. The two performed their signature greetings to the audience, then offered each other a friendly smile.

Lucas watched from a booth underneath the border of the Mid-Air Stadium. His gaze trailed the fluid movements of the fight, eyes darting between the two fighters. Shields went off and on. Grabs landed, only for the other to wriggle out. It was overwhelmingly clear the two had experience fighting with and against each other, and the tension made Lucas’s heart jump.

Some time later, Mario emerged as the victor. He revived Kirby’s trophy with the touch of his hand to the golden base. The two shook hands, then waved towards the cheering audience.

Lucas had to smile at that. Fights had a negative connotation in his universe, but in this one, it was a way of bonding. Friendships were forged in war and cooled in post-battle celebrations.

It was strange. Two separate people from two separate universes being friends was something he never could have imagined before, but now that he saw the fondness between the two fighters, he wondered why he had never entertained the idea.

Before he could think any further, the sky darkened. Lucas looked up, only to see a large, winged ship flying overhead and bringing clouds as red as blood along with it. The cheers had stopped. The only sound that remained was ominous silence.

Lucas gulped. That wasn’t good. He glanced back down at the screen televising the battle.

Mario and Kirby had stopped their celebration and regarded the ship curiously, cautiously. The two didn’t move a muscle. It was as if the world had been put on pause.

Dark purple orbs dropped out of the ship as soon as it flew overhead. The orbs clumped together, then slowly morphed into a humanoid figure with a green outfit and red eyes. Soon, the figures surrounded the duo.

Lucas’s stomach dropped, and dread clumped in his throat. He had to help, but he wouldn’t be able to reach the stadium. And where was everyone else? Were they seeing the same thing he was seeing?

Zelda and Peach joined Mario and Kirby’s sides, alleviating at least some of his worries. Lucas knew they’d be capable of taking down the army together. In fact, they had already sprung into action.

There was nobody else around the booths. He was alone.

Lucas leaped away from the booths and sprinted away with a heavy heart. He had to warn everyone else.

 

* * *

Shit. He was back here.

The Ruined Zoo was as empty as ever, the only sound being his own footsteps and the wind howling against the steel frames of abandoned buildings. The few trees present were bare. Colors on the ground marking a path had faded long ago, leaving only a vague imprint of a series of colored circles. But some ruins were out of place, and Lucas couldn’t help but feel something was very wrong with the scene.

_ Did you see it? _

Lucas stopped. There was the voice again. But this time, it rang clearer and almost sounded familiar. He tried sending back his own thought.  _ Yes. _

The other voice sent another message.  _ You’re scared. Where are you? _

Before Lucas could respond, he caught a glimpse at a familiar shade of purple at his feet. He whipped around, only to see the same humanoid figures from before surrounding him.

His heart stopped. His breathing quickened. He waved his hand, hoping a spark, fire, lighting bolt,  _ anything _ would come out, but it failed. Lucas was prisoner to his own panic, and all he could do was watch as the figures closed in on him.

Crash!

Lucas hazarded a glance up. His face paled.

A gray stone statue five times his size had dropped into the zoo and now locked onto him as a target.

The statue was too familiar. Porky. The drago. His mother. Claus. Flint. Where was everyone? Were they alive? Was Porky back to take him, too? How did he escape the capsule?

It took a step forward. No time to think.

Lucas shoved past the figures and ran.

 

* * *

The sole bonus of having a huge statue of your worst enemy follow you is that it killed everything it came into contact with, including other enemies. The downside of that was that would probably be his fate, too.

How long would he have to keep running? And how long could this statue go on for? Lucas’s PSI had allowed him to run for much longer than a normal person his age would be able to, but there had to be a cap on that. And he could feel it coming soon—

Lucas yelped as his foot caught on a root.

Ah. There it was.

Lucas tugged at his foot, but his ankle stayed stubbornly caught on the root. No amount of force would remove it in time before the statue would run over him.

Thud. Thump. The statue walked closer.

Lucas covered his eyes.

_ Sorry, Claus, Dad, Boney. I shouldn’t have gone here. It really was too dangerous. I didn’t mean to leave you on your own. _

The statue loomed over him.

_ I’ll be with Mom now, though. Goodbye. I’m sorry. _

Its foot hovered overhead.

“PK Thunder!”

Lucas’s eyes snapped open just in time to see a blue ball of lightning push the statue onto its back. The statue fell with a loud thud, then multiple smaller earthquakes tumbled the floor as the body settled.

A familiar boy dropped down between Lucas and the statue. He landed softly with yellow sparkles surrounding his feet, the scene almost angelic.

“Ness?” Lucas said.

Ness turned around to him with a sheepish smile. “Sorry for taking so long. I got homesick, so I had to call my mom. Hope you didn’t mind the wait.”

So that was  _ his _ voice. Now probably wasn’t a good time for Lucas to figure out he shared a psychic link with one of his fellow fighters.

Then the statue stood back up and roared, and Lucas figured now  _ really _ wasn’t a good time for that.

It jumped into the air, then Ness followed its movements.

“PK Flash!” Ness cried before shooting out a green flash of energy at the statue.

The place the statue absorbed the attack glowed green. Ness landed on the ground just as it exploded and sent debris flying everywhere, clouds of dust being kicked up from the commotion.

Then through the debris came a body preserved in a case with spider-like legs. It crawled forward, almost as if it was challenging the two to a fight. The red eyes on its bottom side glowed, and the sharp teeth in the mouth clinked threateningly.

Porky. He was back.

Lucas took a deep breath before setting flames to the root trapping his ankle. He watched it burn away, then stood up by Ness’s side. “That’s Porky. Be careful, he’s dangerous.”

Surprise flashed on Ness’s face, then horror. “You know Porky?”

“Yes? He was in my universe. Though he kind of trapped himself, so I’m not sure how he’s here.”

Porky paused to channel an attack before shooting out miniature statues of his human form, all walking towards them.

“He was only supposed to be in my… Let’s talk later,” Ness said, before conjuring a ball of lightning and running it through the line of Porky miniatures.

Lucas shot an array of fire at the bottom leg of Porky’s machine, and the fight started.

The battle was over quicker than Lucas thought it would end. The two attacked from either side of Porky, shielding and sending out flares of PSI whenever they could. After an unending barrage of attacks, the machine flipped over on its back. Its legs flailed in the air as flames enveloped the body, then all movement ceased.

Porky was defeated in Ness’s universe, in Lucas’s universe, and now in this universe. Lucas wondered which universe was doomed to be subjected to Porky next.

With the battle over, Ness tucked his yo-yo back into his pocket and faced Lucas with a blank stare. “I think we’re in trouble.”

_ No shit. _ But what came out of Lucas’s mouth was, “We just beat Porky. I think we should be fine if we avoid those purple orbs.”

“That’s not what I mean.” Ness shot sparks of blue and yellow PSI out of his fingertips, the light reflected in his unusually dim eyes. “I’ve been here since the first tournament. Master Hand has always kept my PSI under a ton of restrictions, and I’m sure he did the same to you.”

“He has.”

“We used a shield to defend ourselves, but we shouldn’t be able to summon normal Smash shields outside the arena. So that means we used our PSI to make one…”

“So?”

“Master Hand isn’t around to restrict us. He’s in trouble.”

Lucas’s blood ran cold. 

Master Hand had always seemed so unflappable, confident in his control of the universe. If he was in trouble, then… what did that mean for everyone else?

“I might be wrong,” Ness said, “Actually, I’m probably wrong. It’s just something worth considering.” His gaze sharpened. “Anyway, you said Porky was in your universe?”

Lucas flinched under his intense stare but answered, “Yes. He raised an army of Pigmasks and almost killed me and my brother. He almost destroyed the world too, but I don’t think anyone’s too surprised by that.”

“I…” Ness stared down at the floor, fists clenched, then snapped his gaze up to Lucas and grabbed his shoulders with immeasurable guilt flooding his eyes. “I’m sorry.”

Lucas blinked. He hadn’t moved past everything yet, but talking about it was less painful, especially to someone who seemed to share the same struggle with Porky. “It’s… okay? I mean, my brother lived, and my friends and I managed to get the world back in order—”

“No, you don’t understand.  _ I’m so sorry. _ ”

“I know we have a psychic link and all that, but you don’t need to be. It wasn’t your fault.”

Ness gulped. His face scrunched in pain, almost as if he was about to burst into tears at any moment. “Lucas, it  _ was. _ ”

_ … What? _

Before Lucas could question him any further, his eyes widened at the figure suddenly atop a tall, brown structure.

Ness released his grip on Lucas then lasered in on the figure. “Wario? What are you doing here?” He walked forward, but his movements halted when Wario pointed a large gun at him.

Lucas’s heart stopped. Panic fuzzed their line, though he couldn’t decipher whose panic it was. His eyes widened, but he was frozen, stuck to the ground.

Indeed, Wario stood on top of the structure with a sinister grin and equally sinister laugh. He held a gun almost as large as him with it pointed straight at Ness. The pink bulbs and carved designs on its sides lit up, and after a tense few seconds of watching it charge, it fired a black arrow outlined in yellow.

Ness leapt to the side, his feet skidding across the ground. The arrow flew past him.

Wario’s eyebrows furrowed. His grip on the gun tightened, then three more arrows were shot out.

Again, Ness dodged all three, double-jumping on the last arrow. His eyes narrowed, and he spoke through gritted teeth. “Wario. I don’t know if you’re unaware of this because you’re a newcomer and everything or if you’re just being a jerk, but you’re not allowed to—”

Lucas tensed when the gun was aimed at him, and Ness’s words died in his throat. He could feel Ness’s distressed gaze on him, but he couldn’t bring himself to turn to him.

The gun charged.

Lucas begged his feet to move, do  _ anything, _ but they remained stubbornly stuck to the ground as memories flashed by. He was transported back to the same helplessness he was reduced to in New Pork City four years ago, back when he was trapped in a corner with Boney and Dr. Andonuts. Then the memories flashed forward to his battle with the Masked Man, unable to attack his brother. Everything felt hopeless.

An arrow rocketed towards him.

His vision blurred, but the quick footsteps running towards him were loud and clear. Before he knew it, he was lying on the ground, alive. But there was something missing in his head…

Lucas sat up, only to be met with the sight of Ness’s trophy clattering to the floor. His heart lurched, and alarms rang in his head.

_ This can’t be happening. That’s three sacrifices. No. No, no, no, no, no— _

Wario hopped from the structure and down to the floor, slowly stomping his way to the statue. His grin had only grown larger since he shot the first arrow.

Lucas shuffled away. He stumbled to his feet and ran.

When he turned back, Wario gripped Ness’s statue by the head and howled with laughter. Lightning crackled in the distance. The clouds weeped rain, just like it had when the skies mourned his mother’s death and Claus’s disappearance.

He turned back and quickened his pace.

 

* * *

The rain had cleared up after who knew how long. Lucas dragged his feet along the sidewalk, his failures swimming through his mind. First it was his mother, then his brother, and now his… fellow PSI user? Co-worker? Maybe even friend?

Friend. The guy had just given his life for him, after all.

Lucas bit his lip. As short-lived as it was, it felt weird not having the psychic link. But that only lent itself to remind him how he had, yet again, failed to save another life, and he felt  _ so fucking stupid for it— _

His thoughts were interrupted when he bumped into a person wearing a red cap and a yellow backpack. The person barely spared him a glance before nudging him back and gesturing towards the swarms of purple orbs combining together into those familiar green figures.

“They’re called primids,” the boy said, “Watch this.” Then he smirked and held out a dual-colored capsule. He tossed the ball somewhere on the outskirts of the crowd of primids, and a blue turtle-like creature escaped from it. Their movements were synchronized as they prepared to take on the storm of primids.

While the boy was familiar, Lucas had no clue who exactly this person was or if he knew what was happening. All he knew was he was another Smasher, and that was enough for now.

Lucas lit a spark of PSI on his fingertip, ready to fight.

 

* * *

The army of primids (and several other creatures that had ambushed them during the battle) was finally defeated after an exhausting battle.

The boy looked left to right before coming to the conclusion no threats remained. He tossed the same dual-colored capsule at the blue turtle, catching it again when the ball re-captured the creature and it bounced against the floor. He gave Lucas one last nonchalant wave before starting to walk away.

Really? They had just fought together, and now he was leaving? Well, it wasn’t like Lucas could blame him. He probably had his own agenda and had his own reasons for leaving. But hell if Lucas wasn’t bitter about it…

His fists clenched.

He had initially set off on his journey with hopes of getting his life back but failed. His mother had been dead long before his adventure started, and some part of Claus would always be gone, destroyed by the Pigmask Army when they operated on him. But Ness? Trophies always returned the person in the same state they were petrified in; there was hope of getting Ness back exactly as he was, and Lucas would be damned if he let that opportunity slip past him.

“Hey!” Lucas called, running after him.

The boy turned around and raised an eyebrow.

Lucas met his cold stare with a cold stare of his own. “I’m sure you know this already, but everyone in this world is in trouble if whatever those primid things are take over. We’re the only people capable of keeping it at bay. Wouldn’t it be easier to team up?”

The boy had stopped walking away, but he didn’t look too convinced.

“We’re the same age, right? And we’re both newcomers. Maybe we should stick together and look for the other Smashers?”

More silence. This guy was tough.

“Listen,” Lucas sighed, “I just watched my friend sacrifice himself for me. Some other guy named Wario came and turned him into a trophy. I’ve already had enough people make sacrifices for me. The first two were… irreversible, but this one isn’t. Can you please help me?”

The boy leveled a blank stare at him before sighing and tugging his cap down. “You really don’t leave me with much choice, huh?”

“Haha, nope. Sorry.”

“... I’m Red. My pokémon is Squirtle. This is pretty par for the course in my universe.”

Lucas supposed the blue creature he had summoned earlier was a pokémon but didn’t know how to respond to the last sentence. So he offered him a kind smile and said, “I’m Lucas. Something like this happened once in my universe.”

Red shrugged and continued walking.

Lucas followed after him with a bit more hope in his heart.

 

* * *

Silence was suffocating, but Lucas had grown used to not being able to breathe.

The two walked across an endless desert, sand crunching beneath their feet with every step. Wind howled past them. There were no signs of life anywhere nearby. He was glad to be rid of the memories in the Ruined Zoo, but he wasn’t sure this was that great of an alternative.

Finally, the two stopped in front of a tall tree, probably the only tree for at least another few kilometers. Red tossed Squirtle’s ball into the tree, the ball bouncing back to him when Squirtle had settled itself on a branch.

“Check if you can see anything up there,” Red said. Squirtle nodded then scurried further up the tree.

Silence settled between the two again, this time accompanied with the rustle of trees. Lucas cleared his throat and asked, “Squirtle can understand you?”

Red raised an eyebrow, as if questioning his mental state.

“I don’t have them in my universe at all.”

His glare softened into a tired, understanding expression. His attention turned back to Squirtle when the pokémon climbed down the tree and onto his shoulder.

_ It’s far away, but I can see some ruins, _ Squirtle said, though its speech consisted of repeating variations of its name.

Red turned to Lucas to translate, but Lucas beat him to speaking.

“It’s okay, I understood.”

Red’s eyebrows furrowed, and he frowned.

Lucas held a palm up defensively. “It sounds a little weird, but I can kind of understand animals back in my world. I guess that transferred over to here.”

His stare didn’t relent.

“Er, I have a dog, Boney. We talk a lot. So do me and the frogs in my world. I tell them everything, and they commit it to their memory so I won’t forget anything.” Lucas hazarded a sheepish smile and scratched the back of his head. “Then there was the whole thing with the mole crickets, but I don’t really talk about them much…”

Red’s face remained passive before he let out a snort and a ghost of a smile slipped on his face. “Sounds like your world had a lot of variety.”

Lucas chuckled along, pleased he had finally broken the silence but nervous he would mess up a possible alliance.

Red reached into his pocket and pulled out two cards. He presented them to Lucas. “The green one is Ivysaur, the red one is Charizard.”

“You’re looking for them?”

He nodded, then pocketed the cards.

“Well… I don’t know a lot about their habitats, but we could go to the ruins Squirtle saw earlier. Maybe there’ll be another Smasher there? Maybe they’ll know where to find them,” Lucas said.

Red shrugged and walked forward.

Lucas followed.

 

* * *

“So you’re telling me in your universe, your rival is a guy with ridiculous hair and says ‘Smell you later’ a lot?”

Red nodded and rubbed the back of his neck with his palm. If Lucas didn’t know better, he would say he almost looked ashamed.

 

* * *

Red leveled a disbelieving stare at him. “Your dog dressed up as a person? That’s how you got past that ban?”

Lucas shrugged. “It was the only thing we could think of.”

“... Fair.”

 

* * *

After an ambush of primids and too many other creatures to name, the suffocating silence returned, but not one born from coldness.

Their enemies were something Red had never encountered before. Lucas had plenty of experience fighting anything from a simple firefly to a reanimated bass to a men’s bathroom sign. Red had his fair share of oddities in his universe, but pokémon had always been seen as potential friends, not enemies. He had never had to disintegrate so many creatures at once before.

Squirtle skidded back on the ground after their last enemy was defeated, panting heavily. Scratches and bruises littered its body. It was clear it was fighting to stay on its feet.

Red hurried to unzip his backpack. He peered inside, only for his face to fall. “One of the auroros tore a hole in my backpack. All my potions fell out. I can’t believe…”

Squirtle sidled up to its trainer, mumbling comforting noises that seemingly had no effect.

Lucas watched the scene with a heavy heart.

He knew exactly what it was like to watch helpless as a friend ran out of energy. It had happened several times over his journey when his team ran out of food or both his and Kumatora’s PP ran out, leaving their recovery options limited. And even here, his only recovery option was PSI Magnet, which wouldn’t be helpful in this—

Or he could  _ not _ use PSI Magnet, if what Ness said was true.

“Red,” Lucas called, careful to keep his voice gentle. “Can I try something on Squirtle?”

Red locked eyes with Squirtle, as if asking permission. Squirtle nodded, then hesitantly walked towards Lucas.

Lucas tried his best to muster up a warm smile. He kneeled down to Squirtle’s level. “Hey. I’m mostly a healer in my universe. I’m gonna try something. Is that okay?”

_ Go for it, _ Squirtle said, though its face wasn’t as confident as its words.

He hovered his hands over Squirtle’s shell and focused on the injuries. A moment later, the bruises and scratches disappeared from Squirtle’s body. 

Squirtle twitched. It craned its head back around to its body, only to see its injuries had been healed. It grinned, then barreled into Red, who accepted the tackle with a grin of his own. Red’s questioning gaze fell on Lucas.

“... PK Lifeup,” Lucas said, “More specifically, PK Lifeup Alpha. It’s a healing ability, but I’m sure you already knew that.”

Squirtle smiled.  _ Thanks! _

Red stayed silent, running his thumb over the top of Squirtle’s head. Then he smiled as well. “Thank you. I’ve always traveled alone, but it’s nice having someone reliable around.”

That was a surprise. No one had ever called him reliable before.

Lucas blinked before grinning. “And thanks for sticking around this long. We should get going now.”

“Right.”

Lucas looked to the sky for the ruins, then walked forward.

Red and Squirtle followed.

 

* * *

The ruins were much taller than they appeared from a distance. The very tip was surrounded by a circle of clouds, and the wind howled ominously. An orange, fiery dragon roared, its wings flapping audibly as it headed for the ruins.

Red watched the dragon from the safety of the cliff overlooking the ruins’s ground level. He pulled out his cards again. He studied the two for a moment before pointing at one then gesturing towards the ruins.

Charizard. Even the name sounded powerful.

Lucas’s fingers crackled with energy as they moved forward.

 

* * *

After a long,  _ long _ trek through the path to the ruins and a cave system full of enemies Lucas didn’t quite care for, they had made it to the entrance of the ruins.

Pillars were lined alongside a sandy brick path leading to a dark entrance. There was no doubt the outside of the ruins was built to be stable, but Lucas couldn’t confirm the same for the inside, nor did he want to. Should they even go inside? Maybe coming to the ruins wasn’t such a good idea.

Before Lucas could consult Red, a figure hopped down from a higher level, its shadow right above where they stood and growing larger by the second.

Apprehension flooded into his veins, and his heart stopped. He leaped out of the way along with Red, then looked up to meet whoever pulled that shitty move.

Wario. The one who took Ness.

Anger boiled in Lucas’s gut. He seethed. There was no way he could ever hope to comprehend why a Smasher would ever collect another Smasher’s trophy, but he didn’t care. All he could focus on was Wario’s infuriating smug grin and how many ways Lucas could wipe it off his face.

Red took one look at Lucas’s clenched fists and held out a pokéball in preparation. Nice to know he was on his side, but it wasn’t needed. He took a step back when Lucas elbowed him, though he raised an eyebrow at the action.

Lucas fired a warning PK Thunder at Wario with narrowed eyes.

Wario dodged, the missed energy leaving a part of the brick pathway burnt. He cackled, but the laughter died in his throat upon seeing the next barrage of PSI headed straight for him, the world around him suddenly filled with colorful, blocky patterns. The patterns hit him block after block, unrelenting and unforgiving. After the patterns faded, there was nothing left of Wario. A few seconds passed before his trophy clattered to the ground from the sky.

Red’s eyes were wide. “One attack?”

“My strongest,” Lucas said. He looked down at his fingertips, the remaining energy from PK Love Omega flickering. And for a moment, shame washed over him. Didn’t his mother teach him to be gentle to everyone? Granted, she had never met anyone like Wario, but that didn’t make her teachings any less true.

Then Red laughed and held his palm out for a high five. “‘Mostly a healer,’ huh?”

Lucas froze before allowing his guilt to melt away and meeting his high five with a shaky smile. “Yup, believe it or not.”

“Don’t think too hard about what you did with Wario. It wasn’t unnecessary cruelty; you were trying to get your friend back.”

Lucas stopped. He furrowed his eyebrows. “How did you—”

“Same thing happens in my universe all the time. After the third guy trying to end the world, you have to learn that everyone is responsible for their own actions, and some of those actions need to be punished. If you don’t, you’ll go insane,” Red said. He frowned, then stared down at Squirtle’s pokéball. “I don’t know what exactly happened, but I don’t think you would get that worked up over nothing. Trust that you’re acting in good faith.”

As much as it was difficult to wrap his head around, Lucas knew Red had a point. He wasn’t responsible for Wario’s actions, but he  _ was _ responsible for how he responded to them. He just had to trust he responded the right way.

He thought back to his family, then cleared his mind.

Not now. He had a mission.

Lucas scanned the pathway for any sign of Ness’s trophy, but there was only disappointment and the wind laughing at his pain. He deflated, and all the adrenaline built up from his fight faded into sadness.  _ Sorry, Ness…  _

Red set a hand on his shoulder in an attempt to comfort him. He opened his mouth, but whatever he was about to say was interrupted by a deep groan coming from inside the ruins.

The two stared back at the entrance, then back at each other.

Right. Charizard was still here.

They walked into the ruins side by side.

 

* * *

Lucas hated the ruins. He hated those stupid windblowers who kept disrupting his PK Fire shots, those tiny, colorful assholes who were more annoying than threatening, those packs of ghosts who thought they could scare him away just by screaming a bit  _ (Joke’s on you, Floows, I can and have screamed louder than all of you combined), _ and everything else about the ruins.

Then they entered a hallway, and a trophy of a green, leafy creature blocked their path.

Before Lucas could react, a pokeball clattered against the trophy. A red beam dissolved it before bouncing against the floor and back into Red’s hand.

Okay. He had to admit Red’s excitement was contagious, because Lucas found himself smiling, too. He was thankful they hadn’t come to the ruins for nothing.

One card down, one more to go.

 

* * *

Soon enough, Charizard stood before them in a spacious room with three rocky arches constructed against the walls. Its eyes narrowed upon landing on Red. It roared, shaking the floor with the sheer power of the sound, then took a giant step forward.

Red narrowed his eyes back and summoned Squirtle.

Lucas took a step back. This wasn’t his battle to fight, and the determined, stormy looks on both Red’s and Squirtle’s faces proved that.

Lucas watched as Red shouted out a string of commands, Squirtle following them within a split second of them being called out. It was obvious to any spectator they heavily relied on each other. Without Red, Squirtle wouldn’t know what to do. Without Squirtle, Red wouldn’t be able to fight at all. Their bond wasn’t just forged in fire; it was forged in years of perpetual wildfires.

Finally, Charizard’s trophy clattered to the ground. Red tossed a pokéball out and captured the new pokémon.

Red stared down at the pokéball in his hand, his chest heaving up and down from exhaustion. It almost seemed like he was in shock.

Lucas couldn’t blame him. “You finally got Ivysaur and Charizard!” he said, his smile bright.

Red stopped to process the words. Then he raised the pokéball in the air victoriously, his lips curving into a grin.

Red finally had his full team, and Lucas couldn’t be happier for him.

 

* * *

They arrived at a dead end. A wide, short hall led to a circular room that spiraled up endlessly. The ceiling seemed nonexistent, obscured by darkness.

“Dead end?” Lucas said. He winced when Red shrugged. Neither of the two wanted to face the absolute hell that was the ruins again, but there were no discernible exits or any other hallways no matter how hard they searched.

Dead ends everywhere. A fitting conclusion to the rising hope that couldn’t be sustained. Lucas should’ve known better.

Then the ceiling opened up, and instead of the hope returning, dread knotted in Lucas’s stomach.

Something roared in the distance. Both Lucas and Red whipped their heads up at the sudden source of light, only to see a giant meteor smashing down right in front of them, knocking them back and off their feet.

“Wh—What is that?” Lucas shouted over the explosions.

Red only had enough time to exchange a wide-eyed, panicked glance with him before the cold, glowing eyes of a robot caught their attention. He stood up first with a pokéball in hand and summoned Charizard.

Lucas rushed back to his feet, PSI crackling at his fingertips.  _ What is this thing…? _

Radio silence from the other end of the link.

There was no time to think. The robot had fired a series of missiles at them.

“PK Thunder!” Lucas cried before exploding the missiles with a ball of lightning. When he opened his eyes, Charizard had leapt forward enough to bite down hard on the robot’s metal plating. Distantly, he could hear Red shouting out frantic commands.

Lucas locked eyes with Red. Was this the strategy they were going with for the entire battle?

The robot folded itself into a box, ready to launch forward. 

Okay. Nope.

Both Lucas and Charizard hopped to avoid the attack, though the very tip of Charizard’s right wing was hurt. The robot paused, contemplating its next move (if it was even capable of such a thought. This enemy didn’t seem particularly intelligent).

“PK Freeze!” Lucas shouted. Charizard barreled into the enemy along with the bulb of ice. Once they got close enough, the bulb exploded, and Charizard took yet another bite out of the robot.

The robot turned to the side. It braced itself before hopping into the air.

Lucas rolled on the ground to dodge incoming attack and shielded himself, keeping a close eye on the robot.

“Get back!” Red called, tossing a pokéball in Charizard’s direction. After securing the safety of his pokémon, he threw another one out. “Go, Ivysaur!”

Ivysaur dashed out of the way of the robot just as it came back down to the ground, stomping nothing. It exchanged an amused glance with Lucas before shooting out razor-sharp leaves.

Lucas took the opportunity to add onto the damage with a ray of PK Thunder. His attack stopped when the robot stood up straight, but it was too late to dodge the incoming attack. The robot fell forward and slammed the two into the ground.

“Lucas! Ivysaur! You two alright?” Red called.

The two answered by getting back up after the robot pried itself off the ground. They winced at their injuries but kept going.

Red switched out Ivysaur for Squirtle just as Lucas landed another PK Freeze. The robot stopped to process the situation, then Squirtle took the opportunity and shot forward, landing multiple hits on its face.

They could finally breathe when the robot’s left arm exploded. Then another explosion detonated at the joint connecting its foot and lower leg. Then explosions wracked the entire body, sending the robot dropping on the floor. Blue sparks emerged from the gloved hand. If it hadn’t just tried to kill him, Lucas would have pitied it.

Red called Squirtle back and ran to Lucas’s side, his eyebrows furrowed with concern. His worried face was a sad sight to see; it was almost as if his pokémons’ statuses were aligned with his own. Then he turned towards the robot, and his eyes went wide.

Lucas looked back at the robot. His heart sank.

Despite the electricity crackling at its joints and the battered metal, the robot was still fighting to get up. It swept a hand across the floor and grabbed both Lucas and Red. A timed bomb emerged from its forehead, and ominous red numbers counted down to their doom.

Lucas pushed at the hand, trying to pry himself out but to no avail. He kicked, punched, pulled, but there was no escaping the robot’s iron grip.

Then the robot’s boosters activated and launched everyone up and out of the ruins, turning things from bad to worse.

Lucas craned his head towards Red, only to find him slumped over a finger. His throat went dry, and his heart felt like it was about to explode. “Red? Red! Wake up!”

No response.

“Red!” Lucas looked back up at the sky. They were finally out of the ruins and at this point, far above the ground level.

The robot showed no sign of stopping its ascent. The timer counted down, a noise going off at every second.

This couldn’t be the end. Not when they had come this far.

Lucas screwed his eyes shut and shouted, “PK Thunder!” A ball of electricity rounded its way back to the robot’s arm and cut through a connecting piece of its body.

The hand had exploded into rubble, so they were finally free from its grip. But on the other hand, they were left hurtling towards the ground with no protection whatsoever.

He was scared. Of course, he was scared. But if this was his death, so be it. He wasn’t afraid of that, but he should probably give his friend(?) a better chance at survival and thus a better chance at fulfilling his mission to save Ness. Lucas could trust him.

Lucas held on tight to Red and shut his eyes as the bomb exploded above them.

Just before they hit the ground, something grabbed the back of their collars and glided away, outrunning the purple mass coming their way. They landed on a cliff with wind rushing past their faces. Their savior dropped Red and Lucas gently on the ground.

Lucas stumbled to keep his balance, then looked around.

Three concerned faces stared back at him. All three carried swords, though just the way they carried themselves was enough to tell Lucas all he needed to know about their personalities.

One of the three offered him a gentle smile. “Hello. You’re Lucas, yes?”

“... Yes?”

“Good. I’m Marth, another Smasher. The robot who just attacked you is Galleom. I am not sure where it originated from, but I suppose the purple orbs have something to do with—”

“Holy shit, Marth, is it even possible for you to talk slower?” another man said, exasperated. He ignored the same exasperated expression directed towards him and grinned. “Hey, I’m Ike, and the guy who saved you is Meta Knight. We’re all Smashers, too.”

“Greetings,” Meta Knight said. His eyes narrowed when Lucas opened his mouth. “No need to thank me. Is your companion alright?”

Lucas whipped around to Red, who was still lying on the ground. He frowned and kneeled down, hovering his hands over the other’s arm.  _ PK Lifeup Beta better still work… _

Soon, Red managed to gain enough strength to lift himself off the ground. It was clear he was still exhausted from the events that had taken place, with his heavy panting and trembling arms.

Lucas held a hand out and smiled. “Hey. Friends?”

Red looked up and shook the hand without hesitation. “Friends.”

Friends. What a sweet word.

 

* * *

While it wasn’t a short journey by any means, the five had managed to trek to their next location without much difficulty. They stared up at a tall, icy mountain underneath a blanket of red clouds.

Meta Knight’s hand tightened around his sword when a giant ship came into view. His eyes narrowed dangerously when two ships started shooting at each other. “The Halberd is mine. Whoever is onboard will pay.”

Marth frowned. “Meta Knight, forgive me if this is a rude question, but what do you mean by th—”

Meta Knight flew up and forward out of sight, cutting Marth off. He became a speck in the distance, next to two other specks, one pink and the other purple.

Marth could only sigh and shake his head. He seemed used to being cut off.

“What should we do now?” Lucas asked. Neither Lucas, Marth, nor Ike had any mode of transportation that would allow them to climb up a mountain of that height, and Red didn’t seem too keen on following Meta Knight up an unfamiliar, icy mountain where he could slip at any moment.

“Perhaps we should wait until Meta Knight comes back?” Marth said.

Ike stabbed his sword into the ground and rested his elbow on its hilt. “Nice try, but we all know Meta Knight’s going for his ship. I don’t think waiting here has any point.”

“Then what do you propose we do?”

“Hell if I know.”

Red stared up towards the mountain with Charizard’s pokéball in his hand. Then he suddenly squinted and poked Lucas on the shoulder.

Lucas glanced up at the mountain as well, only to see two figures rapidly rushing down towards them like meteors while a ship crumbled ahead of them, sending rubble flying down as well. “Uh, guys… you might want to look up.”

Marth and Ike turned towards the sky, and Ike and Lucas jumped out of the way of the two figures.

Marth’s eyes widened. “Nana? Popo? You two are the Ice Climbers. How did you fall off a mountain?”

Popo opened his mouth to explain, but Nana tugged at his sleeve.

“No time to explain,” Nana said, her gaze fixed on the purple orbs slowly merging together into primids.

Soon, they were surrounded by an army of enemies. Marth and Ike stood back to back as they slashed at the primids. Just as the Ice Climbers sent out a barrage of ice blocks hurtling towards the enemy, Lucas electrocuted them with PK Thunder. Red stood on the outskirts of the group with his pokéball in hand, gaze darting between the enemies as he tried to gauge the situation.

Lucas frowned as he kicked away a primid. There were too many enemies for them to fight. One look at the other Smashers told him they had come to the same conclusion.

So what should they do? Give up? Keep fighting? Was there even a third option?

Then five figures landed in the middle of the crowd and joined the battle without a word.

Nope. There was a fourth option.

Lucas looked towards Marth and Ike for an explanation, but they were too busy fighting alongside another man with a sword and a boy with wings to notice. The Ice Climbers, Red, and a pink blob formed their own alliance in another corner of the crowd.

Then a green dinosaur jumped forward, headbutting an enemy away from Lucas.

Lucas stared at the newcomer.

It looked just like a baby drago.

A million memories flashed through his head within a split second, but the one his mind landed on was of him back in Sunshine Forest, fending off the Pigmask Army with a drago and its baby.

“Yoshi!” the dragon cried with a dopey smile.  _ I’m Yoshi! Nice to meet a fellow Smasher. _

Yoshi, huh?

Lucas smiled back before shooting out a continuous string of PK Fire. “I’m Lucas. It’s a pleasure to fight alongside you.”

The two groups merged into one as they battled.

* * *

 

Even with nine people on their side, the battle was a long and arduous one.

Lucas wiped the sweat off his forehead as the other eight looked around, searching for more enemies to fend off. He tried PK Lifeup on Yoshi and smiled when the scratches on its body disappeared. Sweet memories were always welcome at a time like this.

“I think that’s all of them,” Pit said, dropping his arms.

Link nodded in agreement but frowned. “You’re correct, but you might want to turn around.”

The nine faced the horizon where the Isle of the Ancients previously was. A giant purple circle had taken its place.

_ That’s not a good sign, _ Lucas thought. One look at Red told him he was thinking the exact same thing.

What was happening to their world? Lucas had caught bits and pieces of something about a Subspace Army and a few Smashers collecting trophies of other Smashers, but everything else was a mystery.

Before either of the two could voice their concerns (unneeded as it may have been), two vehicles made a slow descent in front of them. One, Lucas recognized as the Halberd. The other was a ship with a yellow body and silver, red, and blue decorations.

A man wearing a red helmet and blue bodysuit stepped out with dramatic flair, shooting the nine a confident smile. “Hey, this is Captain Falcon. My ship’s full, but there’s three more on the Halberd.”

No question was asked and no command was given, but the nine understood anyway. They piled into the Halberd. When they entered, they were greeted with familiar faces urging them onto different ships.

Before Lucas entered Samus’s gunship, Marth and Ike stepped forward first to greet Meta Knight, almost tripping in their excitement to see him. There was no scolding, no insults, no teasing; they were just happy the others were alive.

Not too far behind, Mario’s face brightened, and he jumped forward into Peach’s arms. It seemed as if they would never let go. On the other end of the spectrum, Link kneeled before Zelda, who took hold of his hand.

Somewhere else, Samus smacked the back of Snake’s head so hard he almost stumbled. He turned back and tried returning the favor, only for the attempt to dissipate as the two laughed quietly. Pikachu nuzzled up against their legs, clearly comfortable to stay where it was. Neither of the three were part of the group of nine in the canyon. It seemed they were just taking the time to relax before they were thrown into another dangerous situation.

The other Smashers were either inside the battleships or exchanging friendly conversation with their colleagues. It was the most interaction Lucas had ever seen them having in one place.

Lucas smiled softly to himself and boarded the gunship. A few seconds later, Red, Yoshi, and the Ice Climbers settled in after him.

 

* * *

This had to take the number one prize for worst rollercoaster of all time.

Lucas gripped his seat and screwed his eyes shut, knowing if he opened them, he was in for a world of nausea. Next to him, the Ice Climbers held onto each other, their mouths open in a silent scream. Red wrapped his arms around the back of his seat while Yoshi nonchalantly kicked its legs.

Was it really necessary for the Halberd to get destroyed? It would’ve been so much less fear-inducing if they just rode the Halberd into battle instead of having to deal with this. But then again, Lucas supposed that would prove to be an unwise decision in the case of an emergency like this one.

“Hold on tight,” Samus said. Her grip on the controls tightened. “We’re now entering subspace.”

That didn’t sound good.

Indeed, it wasn’t good. The ship accelerated, sending everyone flying back into their seats. What little vision they had of the outside world was covered in a blanket of dark purple. They were treading deep into enemy territory, and Lucas couldn’t help but feel sick to his stomach. If it was from the anxiety of upcoming battles or the speed, he didn’t know.

Thankfully, the ship decelerated once they were fully enveloped in the darkness. Then the ship stopped completely, landing on a platform.

“Get out,” Samus said, climbing out of the gunship.

Soon, everyone clambered out of their ships and onto the shimmering dark purple platform. It was unlike anything Lucas had ever seen. During his adventures, he had always been resolute in that he could see the sky; he was on the same world he had always been on, albeit changed over the times. But this—the pitch black sky, lack of any noise, oddly smooth movements—it was concerning. It made his skin prickle.

Red joined his side, as did Yoshi and the Ice Climbers. Everyone else seemed to form their own subgroups, yet they moved forward as one.

“Everyone, be careful of the jumps!” Mario called out before leaping to the next platform.

Lucas followed as someone in the middle of the group, careful to make a landing but also to move out of the way of the others. When he looked over, Red was seated on top of Yoshi, who seemed to have been the one to force him on in the first place.

Ah, right. Red couldn’t double jump.

Lucas shot him a smirk, and Red gave him an exasperated stare in return. They whipped back around to the front when the telltale signs of battling echoed in the dimension.

But it was okay. With the twenty-nine of them, they could make it through anything.

 

* * *

The shimmering platform disappeared, only to be replaced with a dark blue ground. The outlines of some characters were visible, but nothing was truly in full view yet.

Then Master Hand clenched into a fist, and it rocketed towards a light blue spirit in the sky.

A blue barrier formed around the spirit. Soon, Master Hand was sent rocketing back down to the floor.

Lucas’s heart stopped. Ness had been right; Master Hand really was in trouble.

The group of Smashers ran forward, looking down at Master Hand in worry. Then they redirected their gazes up with an expression that promised revenge.

Lucas’s fists clenched when wings sprouted from the spirit. He had seen so many strange things it didn’t surprise him anymore, but this thing had just rendered Master Hand helpless. They had to be careful.

Then it shot out rings of a magic none of them could ever hope to comprehend, and all their hopes sank.

Lucas’s gut wrenched as he looked around. Everyone had been knocked up into the air by the attack, some of their allies solidifying into trophies around them.

No. Some of their  _ friends. _

Lucas allowed his face to reveal a final regretful expression as he felt his body solidify.  _ Sorry, Claus, Dad. I promised I would be back home safe, but I don’t think I can do that anymore. _

_ And sorry, Ness. I’ll repay you one day. Just not today. _

The last thing Lucas saw before everything went black was the trophies of his friends being shot off into different locations. Then all was silent.

 

* * *

“We have six Smashers now. Only a couple more to go.”

A snort. “I’d say it’s way more than just a couple, Pit.”

“Thanks for the reassurance, Samus… Nice to know you have my—”

A separate, familiar voice interrupted them. “Shush! He’s waking up!”

Everything went silent. Lucas opened his eyes, and six familiar faces leaned over him.

The first on his left was a man who wore a green hat (Luigi, probably?), followed by a bigger face resembling a penguin. Falcon stared down at him with just a vague hint of worry on his face. Samus and Pit seemed to have stopped their argument in favor of checking over him.

Then he turned to the last person, and his heart stopped.

“Ness?” Lucas whispered, “You’re okay?"

“Yup!” Ness said with a bright smile. “King Dedede put these brooches on me and Luigi that were timed to revive our trophies. He won’t tell us how he made them, but—”

Lucas wrapped his arms around him, bringing the other into a tight embrace. Words couldn’t come close to capturing what he had to say. He hoped this was a good substitute.

Ness squeezed him back just as desperately, if not more so. “I’m glad you’re okay, Lucas,” he said quietly.

Their psychic link reopened, releasing the floodgates holding back joy, worry, fear, and everything in between. Yes, Lucas could confirm they were friends, and he couldn’t express how happy he was to have his friend back.

The others looked away, giving them the space they needed.

_ Thank you, _ Lucas said.

_ No, _ Ness thought back,  _ Thank you. _

 

* * *

A few characters later, Red awoke from his trophy with the same done-with-your-shit expression he always had. He patted his pockets, letting out a sigh of relief upon feeling three pokéballs clipped to his hip.

Lucas held a hand out, silencing the other Smashers. “Get up, Red. We have a lot of work to do.”

Red gave him a fond smile before accepting the help up. The smile disappeared as quickly as it came when King Dedede attacked him with a hug.

“Don’t mind him, he’s just like that,” Ness laughed. He stuck his hand out with a bright grin. “Hey, I’m Ness. That’s King Dedede, and the green guy is Luigi. And I’m sure you know everyone else.”

Red shook the hand, then shot a questioning look at Lucas.

Lucas nodded.

Red’s gaze returned to Ness. He seemed reluctant to speak, but eventually croaked out, “Thanks.”

“No problem. We’re all Smashers, I’m sure you would’ve done the same thing.”

“That’s not what I… okay.”

“Glad to have you back,” Ike said, setting a hand on Red’s shoulder.

Donkey Kong beat his chest with a grin, as if expressing his agreement.

The group of ten moved forward.

 

* * *

After a series of reunions, some tearful and some heartfelt yet rude, the group of fifteen came to the same clearing they had been defeated at. Master Hand’s crumpled body was still present, but a new trophy lied beside it.

King Dedede let out a sigh before reluctantly reviving the trophy.

After a glimmer of light, Bowser stood where the trophy once was. He roared, then attempted to claw King Dedede across the face.

Alarms rang in Lucas’s head. He stepped forward with a PK Fire ready on his fingertips, only for Ness to shake his head and say,  _ It’s his battle. Don’t step in. _

Lucas furrowed his eyebrows in worry but stepped back and watched the fight.

Their battle had been over surprisingly quickly. King Dedede smacked Bowser out of view with his mallet. Once the trophy clattered back to the ground, he touched the base of it, his movements somehow managing to drip of sarcasm.

Once again, Bowser roared and moved to attack, but King Dedede flicked his nose, sending him stumbling back. He roared as if to ask what that was for, then King Dedede pointed behind him.

Bowser turned to an unmoving Master Hand, his eyes widening. He bowed his head.

King Dedede gestured towards the giant staircase leading to a cloud of bubbles, and they moved forward.

 

* * *

Watching Bowser bite down on Ganondorf’s trophy and storm away was a bit strange. Lucas just felt sorry when Kirby was enveloped in a hug by King Dedede and dragged up towards the staircase. Witnessing Link and Zelda revive their greatest enemy was an enlightening experience and a lesson in uniting to fight against a greater evil.

Then Wario kicked King Dedede over the head, and Lucas conveniently forgot everything he had learned.

Lucas’s fists shook as PSI crackled at his fingertips. He couldn’t attack when there was a greater enemy to face (something he knew even without Red and Yoshi holding him back, so  _ back off, you two), _ but he couldn’t lie: the urge was there and very real.

Ness and Luigi rushed to King Dedede’s side. They glared back up at Wario.

A twinge of annoyance passed onto Lucas from their psychic link, and Lucas couldn’t believe it. How was Ness only moderately annoyed with the guy who had turned him into a trophy?

Wario’s jaw dropped upon seeing the three together. After they pointed towards the staircase, he jumped onto his motorcycle and rode up, ignoring everyone else.

“... I don’t like that guy,” Lucas grumbled.

Red raised his palms up, his lips quirking up into a smirk. “Woah. Be careful with your language there, Lucas.”

“Red.”

Ness jumped back off the stairs and joined Lucas’s side with a smile. “You look like you’re about to murder someone. What’s up?”

Lucas stared at him for a moment before walking up the stairs. “It’s nothing. Just thinking about something.”

“Well… okay, but if you want to talk about it—”

“I don’t.”

“Alright.”

The group moved ahead towards the maze floating at the top of the stairs.

 

* * *

They dubbed it the Great Maze. It was too exhausting to think of a more original name.

By the time they reached the spirit’s room, everyone was on the verge of collapsing. Their chests heaved up and down, and tears sprouted from some eyes. It was perhaps one of the most physically draining journeys Lucas had ever gone on in his life.

Ganondorf’s fist clenched, and purple radiated from it. “Tabuu… that’s its name.”

Lucas looked up, only to see Tabuu’s wings unfolding. Dread knotted in his stomach upon seeing tiny blue orbs slowly morphing into one huge ball of energy.

_ This is it, _ Lucas thought,  _ This is where we die. _

Ness’s eyes were screwed shut as he clasped his hands together and mumbled prayers. Next to him, Red held all three pokéballs in his arms, as if saying goodbye to them. The Ice Climbers held each other’s hand firmly in silence. Pikachu butted its head against Samus’s leg weakly, and Samus reached down to pat it on the head one last time. Everywhere he looked, Smashers prepared for their defeat.

Lucas spawned a spark of PK Love at his fingertips. Even if he died, at least he would be with his mother.

Then a blue ray shot through Tabuu’s wing, shattering it.

The Smashers whipped their heads up.

A blue orb rolled on the ground at an incomprehensible speed before sending another shot through Tabuu’s other wing. It finally settled on a high platform, unmasking the ball as a hedgehog.

“Sonic!” one of the Smashers cried. “You’re so damn late!”

Sonic either didn’t hear them or ignored the accusation, choosing to waggle his finger at Tabuu like a mother scolding a child.

Tabuu glowered, its face scrunched into a vengeful glare. It recharged its energy, but there was nothing it could do about the broken wings.

Lucas stared ahead. That was right; they couldn’t just give up now and concede this universe to whatever this force was without a fight, especially after Sonic stepped in to give them a better chance at victory. They had been fighting for so long, but the war wasn’t over yet. And they’d be damned if they didn’t see the conclusion of that war.

Chatter rose among the formerly silent Smashers as they lifted their heads up. This time, there were no subgroups or anyone on the outskirts of the battle. They fought together as one, united by a common enemy and a common identity. Hope returned with a bang.

Without a single word, everyone charged forward.

The battle began with Kirby and Ike jumping into the air with a sword and cutting back down. Pikachu rushed underneath Tabuu and summoned a bolt of lightning from the sky with a loud “Pika!” Bowser spun its spiked shell as Charizard breathed fire. Other Smashers joined the fight with attacks of their own.

Lucas tried PK Freeze, smiling when he saw it successfully burst into a thousand glittering pieces of ice.

The onslaught of attacks stopped when Tabuu teleported to the side of the stage and whirled around, its body forming the shape of a shark. It shot forward, slamming down those in the air.

Lucas offered a hand out to Peach, who gratefully accepted the help.

Tabuu reappeared at the middle of the stage. Before anything other than one of Snake’s projectiles could land an attack, it teleported to random places that were too unpredictable to attack, exploding with each teleportation.

It seemed the other Smashers had decided on attacking randomly as well and hoping one of their hits would land. From what Lucas could see between swinging his stick back and forth, Meta Knight had managed to land a single stab, and Mr. Game and Watch tossed a fish at Tabuu.

Okay. He supposed this was his life now.

The attacks once again stopped when Tabuu moved to the left side of the stage and slashed at the air. Donkey Kong and Ganondorf were trapped in the series of attacks.

_ Now’s my chance! _ Lucas summoned a bolt of PK Thunder and sent it flying straight at Tabuu. He opened his eyes, only to see a twin bolt pick off where his own had left off.

Ness sent him a sheepish smile. Looks like they had the same idea.

Donkey Kong and Ganondorf dropped to the floor but rolled to avoid further damage. They jumped right back in Tabuu’s face, their attacks holding a renewed vigor. Squirtle jumped in with them with a wave of water, and so did Luigi and Mario.

From a distance, Link continuously shot a series of arrows, and Zelda summoned a ball of fire, sending it hurtling towards the enemy. Again, both Ness and Lucas tried PK Thunder.

Before their PSI could land, Tabuu teleported off the stage. It held up a disc, then sent it spinning into the crowd.

Some of the heavier characters were caught in the first wave, then Lucas was caught on the return trip. He hurried to his feet, only to see the majority of other Smashers had been caught as well.

“Everyone, watch out!” came a shout.

Lucas looked up.

Tabuu was at the middle of the stage. It had enough energy to sprout its wings, and there were red rings headed straight for them.

Being hit by one of them meant automatically being turned into a trophy. They couldn’t afford to have another massive knockout again.

Just before the wave hit him, Lucas ducked and rolled to the side. The other characters followed suit.

The characters in the air attempted an airdodge but were knocked out by the next wave. There went Kirby and one of the Ice Climbers.

Another character screamed on the last wave. And there went Luigi.

Their trophies clattered to the floor, but there was no time to revive them. None of the Smashers were quick enough to revive a trophy while still keeping an eye out for Tabuu.

Mario and the remaining Ice Climber glared. They jumped forward without hesitation.

Lucas’s heart pounded.  _ Did we seriously just survive that? _

_ I think we did, _ Ness thought back. He leaped up into the air and sent out a PK Fire at a stationary Tabuu.

Lucas joined the fray with adrenaline rushing through his veins. He wasn’t doing enough damage, damn it! And he had been told he had good aerials…

Lucas jumped forward and curled into a ball when he reached Tabuu, shooting out sparks of PK Love from every inch of his body. He repeated the action as he dropped to the ground.

Captain Falcon laughed heartily and patted him on the back. “Finally, one of the ranged people’s stopped being a coward. Welcome to the battle, kid! Now show us your moves!” He jumped forward, hitting his knee against Tabuu.

Worry overloaded Lucas’s psychic link. He turned back, only to see Ness looking around frantically.

Before Lucas could move, a golden cage spawned at the top right side of the stage and dipped into the crowd.

“R.O.B.!” somebody shouted.

R.O.B. struggled against the cage, but it was no use. It was stuck there until Tabuu decided to release it.

Tabuu slammed the cage against the ground, and the cage exploded, its remains dishing out collateral damage. R.O.B. was sent flying off the stage but managed to recover just enough to make it to the ledge.

A series of pikmin flew over Lucas’s head. Lucas took that as a cue to rush forward, but he attacked at nothing.

Tabuu teleported all over the stage, triggering the Smashers to send out a barrage of random attacks as they waited for its next move.

The next second they looked, Tabuu was off the stage holding a chain of light in its hand. It threw it into the crowd like a javelin, and one of the Smashers screamed.

Lucas’s eyes widened at the Smasher caught in the chain. “Ness!”

Understandably, Ness was unable to speak, and his link had been shut off when he was caught. He grunted as he struggled against the chain, but it was no use. Tabuu tossed the chain around before sending Ness flying straight into Lucas.

Lucas tried to sidestep, but it was too late. The two were sent flying offstage, saved only by a combination of PSI Magnet and their double jump.

There was no time to worry about the other. Smoke clouded Lucas’s vision as the Smashers let out an onslaught of random attacks. He guessed Tabuu was teleporting again.

The smoke cleared just as Lucas caught his balance. Tabuu was at the end of the stage with a large, black dragon head, and it was charging quickly.

Lucas jumped, as did the majority of the Smashers. He cringed upon hearing another few screams. Bowser and Donkey Kong never did have the best jumps.

In the distance, Diddy Kong let out a rage-filled scream and shot a series of peanuts at Tabuu, who was now stationary at the center of the stage. The peanuts did little to damage Tabuu, though a few other Smashers picked them up and popped them into their mouths.

Okay. That was a thing.

Lucas redirected his gaze forward, only to see the giant head of Tabuu staring back at him. He squeaked, then followed the surge of the crowd away from the unnervingly expressionless face.

“Everyone!” Fox called out, “Under the chin!”

Only Squirtle, Sonic, and Samus had made it underneath the chin like Fox proposed. The rest of the Smashers were juggled back and forth between two lasers from Tabuu’s eyes.

Lucas was lucky enough to not have been as trapped between the lasers as some of the other characters. He fell to the ground once the lasers stopped, but the following screams told him some weren’t so lucky. But then again, Ike and Captain Falcon had been taking the brunt of the damage; they were bound to get knocked off the stage eventually.

Their numbers were dwindling in size, but their determination wasn’t. They steeled themselves for another attack as Tabuu teleported, sending out explosions as it teleported.

Then it teleported high above the stage. It suddenly equipped a white blade outlined in red and dove into the crowd.

Lucas jumped into the air to dodge, as did the other Smashers. This time, there were no screams.

Good. They were learning.

There was no time to celebrate, as Tabuu teleported back offstage. It held out a fist, then a cloud of smoke headed straight through the crowd.

Some of the faster characters like Fox and Sonic had been able to dodge, but the others weren’t quite as agile or didn’t know what the attack was. Wario and Diddy Kong were knocked offstage, their trophies clattering to the floor along with the other trophies from previous attacks.

Tabuu teleported back to the middle of the stage, and everyone rushed to attack. Their collective attacks seemed to work until it pointed towards the ground and unleashed a series of bullets.

The Smashers rushed to avoid the hit. Lucas rolled to safety and looked back.

Falco had tried to kick his reflector out, but it seemed to have no effect. Yoshi managed to jump out of the attack and landed next to Lucas. Ivysaur, Pit, and King Dedede were caught in the barrage of bullets as well.

Despite the people still trapped in the bullets, Marth jumped forward and slashed at Tabuu with a sword, prompting the other Smashers to attack while they could.

Lucas tried another PK Thunder, redirecting it when Tabuu teleported elsewhere.

Lucario’s eyes flashed.  _ It is close to defeat. _

That was their cue. Everyone leaped forward.

It was unclear who dealt the finishing hit. But all eyes were on Tabuu as its body writhed in pain, sparks of blue energy flying everywhere but too small to hurt the Smashers. Its figure grew smaller, smaller, smaller, until it disappeared into nothing. The worlds inside bubbles previously trapped in its chest slowly separated.

“Get the trophies!” Sonic shouted before breaking into a run and reviving as many people as he could.

The rest of the Smashers scrambled to revive the remaining trophies.

Just as the last person was revived, the subspace began to collapse in on itself. The floor shook, and the signature purple color of the subspace ripped apart, revealing a cliff overlooking a vast ocean. Time stopped as the Smashers made eye contact.

_ There. We need to go there. _

Lucas rushed towards the cliff with the other Smashers close behind him.

Sonic took the lead and rolled ahead. Meta Knight and Fox weren’t too far behind, and Red trailed after them with Charizard. At the back of the line, Ganondorf, Zelda, and Link pulled each other forward while King Dedede struggled to keep up. Right as King Dedede tripped, Link grabbed him by the coat and dragged him along.

“Eyes on the road, kid!” Samus said, though her voice was partially muffled by her suit. She grabbed his wrist and ran.

Falco huffed from behind them and grabbed Lucas’s other hand. “No way you’re leaving me behind, and no way I’m leaving any of you behind either. Let’s go.”

Lucas couldn’t help but smile as they jumped onto the cliff together. They released his hand but stayed by his side, watching the others join them.

By the time the last character had stumbled their way onto the cliff, the purple sphere marking the presence of the subspace had shrunk to nothing. They were left with a sparkling, calm ocean and the sun peeking through the clouds. Rays of sunlight shined down on them as a familiar white figure joined their side.

“Master Hand!” some of the Smashers cried out. They surged to him with various shades of worried and pissed off on their faces.

The injuries Master Hand had endured were still present on his body. He chuckled softly as the Smashers surrounded him. “My apologies. I couldn’t keep all of you safe,” he whispered.

“What happened?”

“I would prefer not to say, but I can summarize. Tabuu kept me under its control using some sort of puppet strings. I don’t know what it is or if it’ll come back.”

Ness rushed forward with his hands in front of him, but Master Hand gently flicked him back.

“PK Lifeup won’t work. I am no longer in critical condition, so the cap on your PSI has returned. The same applies to you, Lucas.” Master Hand lifted itself up slowly, brushing itself off. “Only time will heal these wounds. You will be back to your normally scheduled battles in two days.”

“Two days?” Peach cried, her voice incredulous.

The other Smashers raised similar concerns before someone chimed, “Wait, was any of this public to other universes?”

Silence.

Master Hand hesitated to speak. “I am… uncertain. I was under Tabuu’s control, so I was unable to monitor publicity or access to the islands. Well, I suppose the correct term would be  _ island _ now. But in any case, we can handle the fallout of that later. For now…” He turned towards the sunset. “Let us enjoy this victory.”

The Smashers didn’t seem too content with that answer but allowed the topic to rest for now. They spread out across the cliff, then took a moment to relax after fighting for so long. The only sound was of the waves crashing against the cliff.

Finally, Lucas’s limbs started to ache. He almost laughed. His body chose now to complain about his injuries? What happened to them while he was fighting?

Oh, well. They could leave that in the past. And hopefully, he could finally leave his own past behind him, making it a distant friend rather than a close enemy.

Lucas stood by thirty-four friends as they gazed off towards the sunset.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this was mostly setup but. nesscas overload next chapter.


	3. The Aftermath

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> major thanks to Mousekins for helping me with this chapter and listening to my screaming. cant thank you enough bro

The weeks following the subspace disaster were probably some of the weirdest in Lucas’s life. For one, the mansion and everything on the island bustled with activity. The training room was so packed another one was under construction. The previously empty dining hall had at least one group of people inside it at all times. Some Smashers used other places on the island as hangout spaces, though others elected to stay away.

Now, it was prime time for lunch: twelve o’clock. At a corner table in the dining hall, Marth, Ike, and Meta Knight stared intently at the cards in their hands. Judging by the tense smile on Marth’s face, Ike’s scowl, and the eye roll Meta Knight just barely suppressed, the game wasn’t going well for any of them.

Samus sat on the ground with Pikachu. She nodded along with whatever it was saying, though it was overwhelmingly clear she didn’t understand a word of its language. Her attempt was sweet nevertheless.

Mario and Link sheepishly shook hands and bowed to each other, presumably apologizing for the fight they had before. Afterwards, they strolled into the kitchen together. It seemed they were friends again.

And of course, Red sat in front of the television screen in the dining room with several other people, Squirtle resting in his lap. Squirtle looked up at Lucas and smiled.

Lucas walked towards the couch and rested his elbow on the armrest. “You’re here earlier than usual.”

Red shrugged. “Squirtle wanted to see today’s match.”

“Who is it?”

“The TV is literally right there.”

Lucas looked up. Two fighters were on a cartoonish map he recognized as Yoshi’s Island. Ness was on the right side while the other fighter was… Wario.

If he was being completely honest with himself, Lucas hadn’t quite forgiven Wario yet, and he wasn’t sure if he ever would. In fact, many of the Smashers felt similarly about some of the villains during the events that had taken place a few weeks ago. It wasn’t anything too far-fetched for the majority of the universes they had been exposed to, but that didn’t mean their actions didn’t have consequences.

Right now, Ness had a two stock lead. He sent out another PK Fire, but Wario shielded in time and rammed his motorcycle into him, sending Ness flying into the blast zone.

Fair. Ness had been at over a hundred percent of damage.

Red tapped him on the shoulder with a raised eyebrow.

Lucas relaxed his shoulders, not knowing they had been tense in the first place. He continued watching the match.

By the time Lucas was able to concentrate and comprehend what was happening, Wario was at over a hundred percent damage, and Ness had him in a hold. Ness juggled him just above his head, sparks of PSI flying as he did so, and sent him flying back into the blast zone. The game ended.

Lucas blinked. One little throw had knocked Wario out that easily?

“That’s our backthrow champ!” Popo cheered, to which some of the veteran fighters laughed at. Most of the laughter was contained within the original twelve. An inside joke perhaps?

Soon, Ness and Wario came walking into the canteen, silent but not in a cold manner. It was amazing just how quickly Ness had gotten over Wario’s actions, and it was something Lucas would never be able to understand.

Ness met Luigi’s palm with a high five and grin. “Hey, Luigi. Why’s everyone here?”

“They wanted to watch your match against Wario,” Nana helpfully supplied, to which the others groaned and smacked their foreheads. She frowned and swept her gaze across the room. It was clear she had no clue what she had done wrong.

“I told you guys, it’s all in the past,” Ness sighed. He lowered his voice so only the few people near the television could hear. “Not that I’m not kind of mad about it, because I still am. But is keeping grudges really gonna change anything?”

Red rolled his eyes and responded with what Lucas presumed was a snarky comment, but Lucas chose to tune out the conversation and focus on the psychic link.

There was no indication of his words being a lie (though that was hardly surprisingly. Ness struck him as the type of person who wouldn’t refrain from telling the truth solely because he didn’t know how to lie). Some remnants of excitement still remained from the battle. Something akin to nervousness was present as well, but Ness had closed off their link before he could decipher what it was.

Ness offered him a sad smile.  _ Sorry, Lucas. You understand, right? _

Lucas pouted but nodded. To be fair, he wouldn’t want someone to look into his head either if he wasn’t up for it.

But it was strange. While the two had become friends over the course of the past few weeks, Ness seemed to be keeping him at a distance, almost careful with how he chose to interact with him. It made Lucas wary; what reason did he have for keeping Lucas of all people at a distance?

Squirtle caught Lucas’s eye and tilted its head.

Lucas only smiled and looked away.

 

* * *

Now that he had grown used to the scheduling of battles, Lucas was actually starting to enjoy them. And dare he say he was getting  _ good. _

Lucas wrapped Rope Snake around Peach’s arm and threw her to the floor, burying her for a split second before she went flying up. On the other side of the map, his teammates, the Ice Climbers, froze Ness into a jagged block of ice. That was all he could see before being brought back into the fight when Peach threw a turnip at his face.

After several stocks were taken across the fighters, Lucas managed to throw Peach offstage. Just before she could open her umbrella, he leaped down and spiked her into the blast zone. He jumped back onstage with a graceful double jump, cringing at Peach’s scream. He would never get used to that.

“Lucas!” Popo called from across the stage. He rolled to dodge a PK Fire from Ness. “A little help here?”

Oh, right. Nana had been backthrown into oblivion, leaving Popo as the sole Ice Climber. And now everyone was on their last stock.

Lucas dashed as quickly as he could to their side of the stage, but Popo had already acted. His mallet sent Ness flying offstage to somewhere below the stage. Even dodging in the air wouldn’t be able to help him.

“PK Thunder!” Ness cried as a blue ball of energy circled him.

A million thoughts passed by in a split second. Lucas shouldn’t doubt Ness, and he didn’t; he was certain both of them knew Ness could strike both of them out with a well-timed bat. Ness was his most vulnerable when he was offstage. PK Thunder was his only recovery, but trying to spike him downwards would be dangerous if he angled his PK Thunder correctly. It seemed like Lucas wouldn’t be of any use.

Unless he went offstage himself…

Lucas leaped offstage, Popo’s warning to be careful going ignored. He locked eyes with Ness before summoning a purple ball of energy in front of him. The ball absorbed PK Thunder.

Ness’s eyes flooded with shock and betrayal before he fell to his doom. Lucas would have felt bad if Popo wasn’t rolling on the floor laughing.

The game ended there, and after a round of reviving trophies and exchanging handshakes, they were ushered back into the mansion.

“Good job, Lucas!” Nana cheered, holding her hand out for a high-five. After receiving her high-five, she turned to Popo and tugged on his hood. “Popo, you’re actually stupid. You rolled straight into Ness’s bat!”

“What else was I supposed to do? Get ‘wachaa’ed by Peach?” Popo whined.

“Um, yes?”

“That would still KO me.”

“But at least you might have some dignity left.”

Ouch. Even Lucas’s feelings were hurt by that.

Before the three could say anything else, the opposing team entered the mansion.

Peach entered first. She shot them a sunny smile and congratulated them on a win before strolling away with a spring in her step. She hummed a tune as she opened the double doors leading inside the canteen.

A figure wrapped both their arms around Popo and Nana’s shoulders, laughing when the two jumped. “It’s just me, calm down.”

“Gonna roll into his bat again?” Nana said, to which Popo stuck his tongue out.

“Been in the last tournament together and you still do something like that? For shame, Popo.”

“Why is everyone bullying me today?” Popo mumbled.

Lucas chuckled. “To be fair, that probably wasn’t the best move you could’ve made. But I’m sure you already know that, so I won’t beat it to death.”

“Yeah, see? Lucas is nice!”

Ness ignored him, instead turning his attention to Lucas. He smiled and shot him a peace sign. “Good game, Lucas. You work really well with Nana and Popo.”

Lucas smiled back, though he still felt uneasy. He could feel Ness practically moving blockade after blockade in front of his emotions, cutting off their psychic link to the point he wasn’t sure if he could even pinpoint if the smile on Ness’s face was real. “Thanks. You and Peach put up a good fight.”

Ness only nodded and released his grip on the Ice Climbers. With that, a tense silence formed around them. The other Smashers going onstage for their fight took one look at the atmosphere, then swerved to avoid them.

The Ice Climbers’ gazes darted between the two. Without taking their eyes off the scene, Popo elbowed Nana, and Nana kicked his shin.

“I just remembered,” Nana said, “Popo and I should probably show Lucas around the rest of the island! You know, replace some of those negative memories from the whole subspace business with positive ones.”

Ness blinked, but nodded. “Oh, okay. Should I come alo—”

“Nope, we’ll be fine,” Popo said, throwing his arm around Lucas’s shoulders. “See you later, Ness.”

“Alright. See you.” With that, Ness walked away, tossing his yo-yo up and down but his movements less energetic than prior to the battle. Lucas couldn’t determine whether that was because of the battle itself or because of the rejection, but he wasn’t given time to think about it.

Nana stood on the other side of Lucas and wrapped her arm around his shoulder, too. Her voice was hushed, but not quite on the level of a whisper. “Yo, did you guys see how weird Ness acted?”

“Yeah. He’s being a little bitch.”

“Not now, Popo. Lucas, you’re smarter than my brother. Anything you noticed? You know, with your psychic link and everything.”

Lucas couldn’t recall telling anyone about his link with Ness, but he supposed it was bound to be leaked. His lips curved down into a frown. “Well, he kind of blocked it off…”

“Oh,” the two echoed, their eyebrows furrowing.

Nana scanned the room, frowning when she noticed several stragglers hanging around. “We should go somewhere more isolated.” She offered a nervous smile to Lucas. “Hey, Lucas, um… You don’t mind a bit of cold, do you?”

The direction this conversation was headed was concerning, but Lucas shook his head. 

“Great! To the Glacial Peak we go!”

“I’m sorry,  _ what?” _

Popo’s face brightened, but he managed to contain his excitement long enough to guide Lucas out of the stadium. “Don’t worry, you can just hitch a ride with us.”

“Popo, it’s not exactly the ride I’m worried about.”

The Ice Climbers ignored him in favor of leaping into the outdoors. They separated from him but still clung to each others’ hands.

Popo whistled. A few seconds following the sound, an orange condor zoomed down from the skies and landed on the ground next to them. It bumped its head into Popo and Nana, nuzzling against them affectionately.

Nana patted the condor on the head and whispered a few words to it. The condor nodded, then hovered a few feet above the land.

Nevermind. Lucas could worry about the ride, too.

Popo leaped up and grabbed the condor’s leg. “Hop on, you two.”

Nana took Popo’s hand without a moment of hesitation. She offered her hand out to Lucas. “I know this isn’t the optimal mode of transportation, but you’re just gonna have to hold on tight. And if you slip, we’ll catch you.”

Lucas’s throat tightened at the thought of being so high in the sky with his only grip being on someone he met a month ago, but he had to remember he had been under the same circumstances with Rope Snake.

Rope Snake curled around Lucas’s neck, flicking its tongue out at the familiar mode of transport. They both knew its jaw still smarted from that incident.

Lucas fell, but nobody had died. And if Nana and Popo looked so confident about it, why shouldn’t he be?

Lucas took Nana’s hand, promptly regretting his decision as soon as they took off at the speed of sound.

 

* * *

Thankfully, they reached the summit of the Glacial Peak without someone falling off. Everything around them was barren. The floor was completely frozen over, though some patches of snow stopped Lucas from slipping into an untimely death. Clouds were collected just a few levels below the peak.

Nana and Popo bid farewell to their condor before turning back to Lucas. The grins on their faces faded upon seeing his chattering teeth and pale face.

“Oh, shit,” Nana mumbled, “Probably should’ve thought about that before coming up here…”

In any other situation, Lucas would have cracked a joke and moved on, but he would rather jump off the summit than open his mouth and allow the cold to freeze his insides. He only nodded in a way that could be mistaken for a shudder.

Popo shook his coat off then handed it to Lucas. “Here. You clearly need it more than I do.”

Lucas scrunched his face, but Popo didn’t budge. He took the coat and wrapped it around himself. He briefly considered using PK Fire to warm up the surroundings just a bit, but figured the risk wasn’t worth the reward. “Thank you.”

“No problem. Anyway, we chose this place because nobody else besides us comes up here. Well, and Lucario, but I don’t think it really cares about us too much, and it’s not here anyway.”

_ Wow, I wonder why, _ Lucas thought. He kept his mouth shut.

Nana elbowed her brother. “You know more about Ness than I do. Any idea what’s up with him?”

“Well, guess why we brought Lucas here.”

“Jeez, someone’s snarky today.”

“I wonder why. Oh, right, because you two kept  _ bullying me.” _

Lucas’s heart sank. He had suspected he had something to do with Ness’s recent behavior, but he had never expected to be outright accused of it. “Does—Does he hate me or something? Because if so, he could’ve just told me and I would stay away from—”

Nana and Popo’s hysterical laughter cut him off. They rolled around on the ice, clutching their stomachs and wiping tears away from their eyes.

Lucas withdrew deeper into the coat, though the warmth didn’t help much with his embarrassment. “I’m serious.”

“I know, and that’s the funny part,” Popo said. His laughter died down, but a grin was still present on his face. “Lucas, that could not be farther from the truth.”

Everything stopped. The world hadn’t been turned upside down, it was flung into another dimension entirely.

“... What?” Lucas said, though it sounded more like a statement than a question.

“Bro, that man fucking loves you. Not like  _ love _ love, but it’s pretty clear he wants to be your friend as much as you want to be his.”

Nana joined in the conversation, her back pressed against the icy floor. It was a wonder how she managed to stick onto the ice instead of slipping like Lucas inevitably would have. “Said you make him feel less homesick. That’s a win in my books.”

Now that he was certain Ness didn’t hate his guts, Lucas was just left confused. If what they were saying was true (and he had no reason to doubt it was), then why had he been avoiding Lucas like the plague? Ness seemed like the kind of person who could make friends easily; Lucas should not be the exception to that rule.

“Then why does he keep avoiding me?” Lucas asked. He was aware he could be teased mercilessly for the pout on his lips, but he couldn’t find it in himself to care.

Popo shrugged. He plopped down on the floor next to Nana. “I don’t know, but last tournament, he avoided me for ages after a battle. When I finally chased him down and asked why, he said he felt bad about three-stocking me.”

“Same thing happened with Mewtwo,” Nana added, “He accidentally initiated some kind of telepathic thing with Mewtwo while it was meditating, and he felt so bad about it he just avoided it until it came to make amends with him.”

… Okay, that was just laughable. A few chuckles escaped Lucas’s lips.

Then it hit Lucas: Ness was only avoiding him because he felt guilty about something. But as far as Lucas knew, Ness hadn’t done anything to elicit that amount of guilt. What could he be so guilty about?

“You look confused,” Popo said.

Lucas hesitated but decided he should speak. They seemed trustworthy; they  _ had _ been the ones to set him on the right path, after all. “I kind of am. I don’t know why he thinks he did something wrong.”

The other two nodded in understanding before Nana suddenly froze. She remained stiff on the ice before suddenly leaping up, sitting straight up. She narrowed her eyes at Lucas. “Hey, Lucas… you did ask Ness why he was avoiding you, right?”

Silence.

“Oh my god.”

Embarrassment washed over him like the warmth from the coat. Lucas burrowed deeper into the fabric, hiding his face behind his hands.

Of course he had missed the most obvious solution.  _ Of course. _

Popo laughed, rolling on the floor in his fit of giggles and making Lucas wonder if the Ice Climbers were completely immune to the cold. “Holy shit, I can’t believe—”

“Okay,” Nana said, biting back her own laughter. “I can’t guarantee he’ll spill everything, but you have to at least try. We’ll be here to support you.”

“Yeah!” Popo cheered. He recovered from his laughing fit. “We know firsthand Ness can be a dumbass. I assume you don’t have much experience dealing with dumbasses of his kind, so we’ll be here.”

“Oh, trust me,” Lucas said, frowning at the floor when a memory of his brother tripping over air came to mind. “I do.”

Nana sighed and stood up, shaking the snow off her boots. “If you’re done, we should go back. Lucario’s gonna be pissed if it sees we messed up its meditation space.”

Lucas stood up, as did Popo. He was careful to keep his feet on the patches of snow. “Are you calling your condor?”

The Ice Climbers turned to him with mischievous, glittering eyes, and that’s when Lucas knew this had been a mistake.

“Oh, no,” Popo laughed. “You think we’re some filthy casuals? Just because we’re called the Ice Climbers doesn’t mean we can’t go down them, too.”

Lucas’s heart stopped. He froze when Popo and Nana grabbed his arms, setting him in between them. “W-Wait, where are we going?”

The two sat down at the edge of the top platform and prompted him to do the same. Below them was a clear albeit steep path of ice dipping below the clouds, which only served to remind him just how far up they were.

Lucas bit his lip, certain his palms were sweating.  _ Okay, Lucas, you can do this. You launched off a mountain in a refrigerator. This is nothing. _

It became clear he was horrible at lying to himself when the Ice Climbers pushed off, sending them flying down the mountain.

Lucas screwed his eyes shut and hoped for the best.

 

* * *

“... reckless! You just threw him off the mountain?”

“Hey,  _ slid _ down the mountain. And he was wearing my coat, too. That’s gotta add some protection.”

“Protection from the elements, not protection from getting your head busted open by a rock!”

“Okay, okay, we fucked up. I get it. But he’s waking up, so you’d better—”

Lucas sat up. The coat had been removed and replaced with a warm blanket and fluffy pillows. He was back at the mansion in his room with Nana and Popo at the foot of his bed. A few other figures surrounded him, each releasing their own sigh of relief when his eyes fluttered open.

“Lucas, are you alright?” Samus asked, her eyebrows furrowed in concern.

Lucas moved to nod, but pain shot through his skull. “My head hurts a little, but it’s nothing too bad. What happened?”

“You slid down a mountain with the Ice Climbers. I don’t know why you would agree to something like that, but that happened. You were out for a few minutes. Pikachu says you hit your head.”

Lucas didn’t know when Pikachu had been certified in any sort of medical training, but he supposed a pokémon’s instinct probably wasn’t wrong. “Thanks.”

“Sorry about that,” Nana said, offering him a nervous smile.”We really didn’t think it would turn out this way.”

“Holy shit, I thought you died.” Popo had his coat back on and held it close to him. His grip on the coat was tense. “It really freaked us out. I’m glad you’re awake.

“For what it’s worth, I’m glad you’re alive, too,” Lucas said. He smiled at the genuinely apologetic frowns on their faces. “It’s no big deal. I’ve been through worse.”

Pikachu hopped onto the bed and curled up in Lucas’s arms.  _ Samus and I were training nearby. Good thing it wasn’t Peach or Zelda who caught you. _

“Huh? Why?”

Popo gasped. “Oh my god, nobody tell Peach or Zelda about this. Or for that matter, Ness or Red. I feel bad, but not ‘getting-stabbed-to-death-by-four-people’ bad.”

“Holy shit, Red would actually strangle us,” Nana murmured, holding her head.

Samus snorted. “Most likely to, I’d say. Peach and Zelda would at least make your death painless. Ness would probably take some pity on you since you’ve known him longer. Red’s a newcomer, so he doesn’t have any ties with you two.”

“Thanks for the reassurement, Samus. It’s always nice talking about our deaths.”

“No problem.”

Lucas took inventory of the situation while the other four argued. There were some visible bruises on his skin, but most of them were insignificant enough to be painless. His head hurt less by the second. One look at the time told him Red and Marth were at least a few stocks into their match, and the training rooms had been reserved by every member of Mario’s universe. It was bound to be a quiet day in the Smash Mansion.

Though he hadn’t been expecting Samus and Pikachu to be the ones to come to his rescue, nor for Nana and Popo to care about him to this degree. The more realistic scenario would have been for him to be left lying on the ground while the Ice Climbers ran away, though he supposed he shouldn’t deem that the realistic scenario, seeing as how it defied reality. It was jarring having so many people care, but it made his heart feel warm.

Lucas smiled. There really were good people within these walls.

 

* * *

“Red.”

Squirtle, Ivysaur, and Charizard were out of their pokéballs, all three chasing after their trainer with concerned expressions. They mumbled their worries amongst themselves when they had time to stop, but most of their energy was spent trying to catch up with Red, who stormed through the forest around the lake.

Lucas dashed after him. “Red! What’s wrong?”

Red didn’t turn around.

While Lucas was stewing in his own thoughts and how to best solve his problems, his friend grew increasingly worried about a subject he wouldn’t reveal anything about. He retreated from even pokémon and refused to step out of his room for anything except battles and food. It was concerning at the very least; Red wasn’t the type to hide from his problems. What was going on?

Finally, Red stopped when he reached the lake. He peered down at the water’s surface, glaring daggers into his reflection. His glare softened when the reflections of his pokémon and Lucas joined his.

Lucas tugged on his sleeve. “Red? What’s wrong? You’ve been acting weird these past couple days…”

_ We’re worried about you, _ Ivysaur said, setting a vine on Red’s shoulder.  _ Even Charizard chased after you. _

_ Please just tell us what’s wrong, _ Squirtle pleaded.

Red hesitated then sighed. He plopped down on the ground. “Fine. I overheard Master Hand talking to some members of the press. Or maybe he wanted me to hear. I don’t know.”

Lucas nodded and joined him on the ground, urging him to continue.

“And… And…” His fists clenched. “The public knows about what happened with Tabuu. It’s been documented everywhere in every universe.”

That was unexpected, but it wasn’t a surprise. Master Hand had even told them the public may get involved in these affairs.

“Everyone’s families are coming to visit sometime this week,” Red said.

A boulder dropped in Lucas’s stomach.

So that was why his family wasn’t answering his texts: they were preparing to pay him a visit. While it was exciting and relieving to be able to see them again, Lucas had almost died numerous times over his journey into subspace and beyond. All those close calls had been televised, which meant Flint and Claus were definitely aware of it. He had no clue how they would react, to him, to the mansion, to the other Smashers, to anything. And that was the scariest part.

Lucas pushed away his worries and asked, “Who’s coming?”

“My mother and sister,” Red answered, though he didn’t seem particularly pleased with it. “I don’t want them to come.”

“Why?”

“Last time they saw me, I isolated myself on top of Mount Silver. I don’t think they’re too jazzed about seeing me either.”

That made Lucas frown. He knew Red didn’t have a great relationship with his family, but most of that was a direct result of him choosing strength over relationships. Lucas didn’t know enough about him to determine if he regretted that decision, but it was obvious he cared very much for their opinions. They were probably close before Red isolated himself at the top of wherever Mount Silver was (which Lucas was guessing was probably as far up as the Glacial Peak, if not higher).

“Why did you isolate yourself in the first place?” Lucas asked.

Red looked amongst the pokemon staring expectantly at him, then sighed. “Wanted to get stronger. I felt like being champion of the Kanto League wasn’t enough, so I trained up at Mount Silver.” He rolled his eyes at Lucas’s disbelieving stare. “To be fair, it’s not like I was completely alone. I had my pokémon with me. And there was this kid—Gold, I think?—who battled me when he had the time to come up.”

Lucas bit his lip and frowned. “Did your family ever come to visit?”

“Well… kind of. My mother couldn’t make the journey up the mountain, so we just talked over the phone. My sister came up sometimes. We all stopped talking.”

Ah, there was Red’s stoic way of speaking again. It was then Lucas realized he most likely spoke this way because of his isolation on the mountain.

“Do you miss them?” Lucas said.

Red pursed his lips. “I don’t know.”

“Why don’t you find out?”

He stayed silent.

Lucas continued, sure to keep his voice gentle. “They’re coming to visit you from another universe, so they must care about you at least a little bit. At least, that’s what I’m getting from this. You know your family better than I do.”

Another round of silence.

“My mother died,” Lucas said. Red turned to him with wide eyes, but he dismissed him with a wave. He didn’t need apologies for something that had happened years ago. “I almost lost my entire family. My point is, cherish what you have before you lose it.”

Red hesitated, then said, “My father left when I was young.”

“Does he really count as family?”

He paused, ruminating over his words. Then he turned to him. “How old are you?”

“Sixteen…?”

“... Damn. I’m fifteen.”

Lucas offered him a wry smile. “Language, young man.”

Red released a quiet breath, and it took Lucas a couple of seconds to realize that was a laugh. “You’re shorter than me, you can’t tell me what to do.”

“Cheap move.”

“I’m aware.” He stood up and brushed his hands off. He sent an apologetic smile towards his pokémon. “Sorry for worrying you.”

All three told him not to worry about it in some form or another. After ensuring Red wouldn’t pull that stunt again, they returned to their pokéballs.

Lucas stood up as well and patted Red on the shoulder. “Take your time. It’s always your decision in the end.”

Red shook his head. “I’ve already made my decision. Thanks, Lucas. I appreciate it.”

“No problem.”

The two walked back into the mansion in silence. They held their tongues when Master Hand announced the exact same news later that day.

 

* * *

The stress of advising Red on how to apologize to his family as well as preparing for his own family to visit proved to be too much for Lucas to handle. After a long battle with Meta Knight that ended in Lucas’s defeat, Lucas flopped down onto his bed and sighed.

_ You okay? _

Keep calm, Lucas. You just told the Ice Climbers you would talk it out like a respectful human being. Don’t set the door on fire, no matter how annoyed you are with everyone today.

So instead of setting the door on fire, he sighed and sent a message back.  _ Not really, no. _

Silence, then someone knocked on the door.

Lucas walked over and opened the door to see Ness’s brows furrowed in concern and a frown pulling down on his lips. Lucas stepped back and allowed Ness to enter before closing the door.

“What do you need?” Lucas asked, straining to keep his voice light.

Ness shrugged. “Just wanted to make sure you were okay.”

His answer was genuine, that much was obvious. Worry flooded into Lucas’s head, one he knew wasn’t his.

“Why?” Lucas said.

“Because we’re friends.”

“Even though you’ve been ignoring me since we came back from subspace.” Damn. And here he was thinking he could be civil today.

Ness winced and let out a slow breath. Regret blanketed over his thoughts.

Lucas’s throat felt dry. “To be honest, I thought you hated me.”

“Yeah… Nana and Popo told me.”

“So why have you been ignoring me?”

“... Lucas,” Ness called after a moment of silence, his voice quieter. “Do you remember what I said to you at the Ruined Zoo before Wario showed up?”

If he was being honest, Lucas had brushed his claim of Porky’s invasion being his fault off as a product of sharing a psychic link. There was nobody else in the mansion who would be able to know the full extent of that pain, so it made sense Ness would take the emotional hit. But if Ness was this troubled over it, maybe it wasn’t as inconsequential as Lucas thought it was.

Lucas nodded and allowed Ness to continue.

“I wasn’t exaggerating when I said I’m responsible for Porky. I wanted to tell you sooner, but I was just… scared.”

“In what way? You haven’t explained it at all.”

“... Nevermind,” Ness said. He turned back to the door. “I’ll see you tomorr—”

_ “Ness,” _ Lucas called, grabbing Ness’s arm. Instead of speaking, he opened the floodgates holding his emotions back, all the frustration and pain being passed into the other.

It was painful, Lucas could tell. Ness winced then turned back to him. He flopped down on the bed and spoke, his voice quiet. “Are you sure you want to know?”

“I’m here now, aren’t I?”

Ness stayed quiet, staring down at the floor. After a pensive moment, he pursed his lips and met the other’s gaze. “Fine. Come here.”

Lucas stepped forward, then Ness pressed their foreheads together. Before Lucas could ask what he was doing, memories flooded into his mind.

First, a young Porky and Ness traveling up a hill and investigating a meteor. Then Porky taunting Ness in some cultish, blue town, this time with an unfamiliar blonde girl next to him. Then Porky in a helicopter while Ness watched from the ground with the same blonde girl and another boy wearing glasses. Then Porky in a spider-like machine, fighting alongside a monster Lucas couldn’t hope to comprehend. And finally, a letter in Ness’s trembling hands that read: “ _ Come and get me, loser! Spankety spankety spankety!” _

He understood.

Lucas staggered back, clutching his head. Sharing memories was a draining, painful form of PSI he wasn’t familiar with. The guilt and shame flooding into his head was too much to bear. He shut the link.

Ness offered him a smile. Lucas didn’t understand how he could at a time like this, but he wished he could do the same.

There was no need for words. They had both seen what Ness had shared and the responsibility he felt for it. Their psychic link was silent, as was the room. The world waited with bated breath for someone to speak.

“It wasn’t your fault,” Lucas said.

Ness frowned. He opened his mouth to speak, but Lucas was determined to get his thoughts out.

“You had no way of knowing what Porky would do. And even if you did, how could you have followed him?”

“I could have done  _ something.” _

Rage burned in Lucas’s gut. Who was petty enough to destroy another universe just to get revenge? How dare Porky commit such horrible acts against his own neighbor? And how dare he shatter the confidence of one of the most confident people Lucas knew?

Lucas sat down next to him, wishing he could do more to take the regret away. “No. You didn’t know, nor could you have done anything without risking your own life.” He paused, then stared straight into the other’s eyes, noting how brilliantly they shined even after everything that had happened. “Meet my family.”

Ness chuckled, though there was no humour behind it. A classic defense mechanism Lucas was familiar with. “I can’t do that.”

“You want to make it up to me and the rest of the Nowhere Islands, right?”

“Yes, but—”

“Then meet my dad and brother. They’re coming over in a few days. I would like for you to meet them.” Lucas squeezed his hand and offered him a smile he hoped was reassuring. “They’re both nice. Dad can be standoffish sometimes, but he means well. And I’m sure you and Claus will get along.”

Ness’s gaze flickered to the ground, and he gripped Lucas’s hand. “Are you sure?”

“I don’t say anything I don’t mean.”

“And you don’t hate me?”

“Maybe a little bit for ignoring me, but not really, no.”

“... Fine,” Ness said. He was silent for a while before speaking again. “I’ll meet your family.”

Lucas stopped to observe the boy in front of him.

While there weren’t quite bags under Ness’s eyes, he still looked more tired than Lucas had ever seen him before. His back was slouched, and sparks of pink and green crackled around his head. Still, he managed to muster up a sunny smile when he caught Lucas staring. His posture straightened, and he mouthed,  _ Thank you. _

Lucas couldn’t help but smile back.

 

* * *

It was two in the morning when Lucas sent the message.

Ness’s side of the link was fuzzy, but judging by how the message went through in the first place, he was already awake. He sent a message back.  _ I’m sorry, what? Did I hear that correctly? _

Lucas snorted.  _ Do you want me to share my memories with you, too? _

_ Do you want to? _

He stopped. He had only suggested doing so because it only felt right after Ness had shared undoubtedly painful memories with him. Was Lucas prepared to open up like that?

Ness paused with him, then sent another message.  _ You never have to share your memories with anyone. Not even me. _

_ But you shared yours. _

_ I want you to open up to me when you feel like you can trust me, not because you feel like you have to.  _ Then their link was jammed.

Lucas suppressed a smile.  _ Sneaky bugger. I was going to take your word for it, you know. _

Still, his heart felt warm. When he first arrived to the tournament, he hadn’t expected anyone to even spare him a glance, much less care for him to this degree. He counted his blessings he had come across kind people and drifted off to sleep with a weight lifted off his chest.

 

* * *

“Are you two good?”

Lucas smiled at Nana and Popo after seeing himself paired with Ness for another battle. “Yeah, we’re good.”

Nana and Popo let out a collective sigh of relief, and that was the end of it.

 

* * *

A few days later, the entire Smash Mansion was the definition of chaos. But not all of it. Lucario had resigned himself to training at Glacial Peak, and other characters did the same at different locations. However, the majority were in a frenzy preparing to greet their friends and family. The notable example in the mansion was Marth, who hadn’t joined a training session in days.

Then there were those in the middle, who carried on as normal.

Lucas watched the characters in the mansion with a cup of tea in his hands, eyes scrunched as he bit back laughter. Yoshi’s family had already come in a stampede of rainbows. The only phrases he could make out from the absolute chaos that was the Yoshis were “You’ve grown so much!” and “We were so worried!”. So much so to the point even Lucas felt embarrassed watching them. He exited the dining hall.

In the hallway, Samus passed by in her suit with her helmet underneath her arm. Her cold expression was unrelenting when she made eye contact with Lucas. Then she waved.

Lucas smiled and waved back.

He continued forward, and near the front of the training rooms, Red stood with two brown-haired women, one with a kind smile and the other wearing a white hat. He covered his nape with his palm as the first woman rambled about something while pinching his cheek. The hatted woman stood by with a smirk.

_ Must be his mother and sister, _ Lucas decided. He turned the opposite way. No need to interrupt their reunion.

Lucas finally arrived to the Smashers’ rooms. He walked down the hallway to his room, only to find Ness with two people. Like Red, Ness stood uncomfortably while the older woman interrogated him on his time in the mansion and the younger one teased him.

Then Ness met his eyes, and relief flooded his face.

“Hey, Lucas!” Ness called with a wave. “Come meet my mom and sister!”

Lucas almost laughed at the not-so-hidden desperation behind his words. Still, his stomach turned at having to meet strangers without warning.

No, not strangers. Important people to his friends _. _

Ness’s mother turned to Lucas with a smile as bright as the sun. “Oh, I’ve never seen you in the mansion before. What’s your name, darling?”

“Lucas,” he answered. Lucas held his hand out and smiled despite the earthquakes shaking his heart. “It’s nice to meet you, ma’am.”

“And so polite, too! How did such a gentleman land a friend like my son?”

“Mom,” Ness groaned, pulling his cap over his eyes. He glared at his sister, who was shaking from badly repressed giggles. “Anyway, Lucas, this is my mom. The gremlin next to me is my sister, Tracy.”

Tracy gasped, then turned to their mother. “Mom! Ness called me a gremlin!”

“You deserved it.”

“Did not!”

“Did too!”

Children. They were absolute children.

Lucas couldn’t help but grin and chuckle at the scene. His heart grew warm and stayed fuzzy, even when their mother pulled both of them into a headlock and apologized for their behavior.

Somehow, he was then roped into spending the rest of the day with them. It was only after a late dinner they excused themselves to go stargazing at the top of Glacial Peak (He took note of their thin clothes and quickly guided them to the Plain, where stars would readily be visible without the possibility of freezing). Lucas was left stumbling back to his room while exchanging greetings with some of the fighters he passed, then he flopped down on his bed. It was still relatively early, but exhaustion weighed every limb of his body down. Ness and his family had too much energy to be human.

But at the same time, Lucas smiled. Despite all the arguments between the three, it was clear they were a close family who dearly loved each other. He supposed he could say the same for his own group of three.

Missing one.

Lucas’s heart sank. He rummaged through the nightstand next to his bed then pulled out a silver matchlock he had pried from a broken firearm. His father had given it to him for the tournament. While it wasn’t quite the most normal memento to keep of a dead family member, his heart still clenched at the memory of his mother.

He turned the matchlock over in his hand and huffed. Even after spending months in a nightstand drawer, it still shined just as brightly as ever.

Four bright people. They would’ve gotten along nicely.

Lucas gave the matchlock a farewell wave before placing it next to him on top of the nightstand. The universe hadn’t taken the sun away from him; it had just rearranged its position. And even though he missed that sun so much it physically hurt, he knew he would play under its light another time.

He drifted to sleep. He dreamed of sunflowers in the heavens and on the earth.

* * *

 

 

The second Popo and Nana ran into the dining hall radiating distress, Lucas could tell today wasn’t going to be an easy day to get through.

“Guys. Guys!” Popo called. He stopped to catch his breath, Nana giving him an arm as support as he did so. “There’s two Lucas’s!”

The few people in the dining hall silently stared while Lucas buried his face in his hands. There was only one way this conversation could go.

“So you’re saying there might be a Lucas clone?” Red asked with a raised eyebrow. “I thought we got rid of all the clones in subspace.”

Nana shrugged. “All we know is that there’s two Lucas’s running around, and one of them is a clone. Which might include this one…”

“Uh… you guys aren’t proposing we fight him, right?” Ness asked, grabbing his yo-yo off the table. Judging by the way he fought to bite his smile back, Lucas could tell he could sense every last bit of annoyance in their psychic link and wasn’t doing jack shit about it. Thanks, Ness.

After Red summoned Squirtle and Lucas saw they were genuine about erasing his “clone,” he finally spoke.

“I have a twin,” Lucas groaned. He scanned their faces and elaborated when their stony expressions didn’t relent. “No, really. He’s here with my dad.”

“Lucas!” a familiar voice shouted.

Everything stopped. All five turned to the voice, only to see a blur of orange and blue tackle Lucas to the ground. When they landed, a boy with orange hair with the exact same face as Lucas had his arms wrapped tightly around him.

“Claus!” Lucas called, returning the hug. He winced at the force of the hug, but he felt lighter than air. Laughter escaped him, a grin bursting to his lips. His brother was here. Oh god, his brother was here!

Lucas wriggled out of Claus’s grip and took a moment to examine his twin.

Claus looked the same as he did when Lucas left: like a fucking dork. He wore a blue and yellow striped sweater, and his hair was slightly askew as always (though whether that was from tackling him or from him being himself, Lucas couldn’t tell). His eyes glittered with excitement and happiness that threatened to turn into tears. And of course, the brightness of his grin could rival the stars.

Claus ruffled Lucas’s hair, laughing at his protests. “How have you been? How’s life at this place? Have you made any friends? Of course, you haven’t, you’re a dork. But how many have you made? Do you need food? Is your phone charged? How have—”

_ “Claus,” _ Lucas repeated, though the exasperation in his voice was fake. “Yes, my phone is charged. No, I don’t need food. And I forgot the rest of your questions, but I can still remember you calling me a dork. You hypocrite.”

“You are.”

“No, you.”

“No,  _ you!” _

“Boys,” another familiar voice called.

Lucas turned away from his twin, only to see his father in front of him, still as strong as ever. His hat covered most of his eyes, but with the way the skin under his eyes crinkled and lips curled into a fond smile, his affectionate gaze was still identifiable.

“Dad!” Lucas cried, and that was when he could feel his heart about to explode. He flung his arms around him, for once happy to smell the scent of sheep and grass.

Flint hugged back with the same intensity. “Lucas. I missed you.”

“I missed you too, Dad. Both of you.”

Claus smiled and flicked Lucas’s head.

“Nevermind,” Lucas said when they pulled away. “I missed you, Dad. I don’t know who the other guy is.”

“You know, Claus was running all around the mansion looking for you,” Flint said, “Boy nearly ran into at least ten people. Told him to slow down, but he didn’t listen, of course.”

Lucas laughed when Claus’s face reddened from the indirect scolding. “Wow. Who’s the dork now?”

“Still you,” Claus mumbled.

Lucas wrapped an arm around Claus’s shoulders. “I love you, too. Dork.”

Claus snickered and reciprocated the action. His smile fell. “Sorry we couldn’t bring Boney. Airplane said they didn’t allow dogs.”

“Did you try disguising him as a person?”

“No? Why would we do that?”

Lucas shrugged, ignoring the other fighters’ laughter. “Might’ve worked. But it’s okay. You and Dad are here.”

Not too far away, Red leveled an exasperated look at Nana and Popo. “You two. They have different hair colors. They wear different clothes. One of them has a  _ mechanical arm. _ How did you think they were clones?”

Nana and Popo raised their gloved hands in defense, though they couldn’t say anything without digging a deeper hole for themselves. They wisely chose to not speak, a decision Lucas could admire. They were learning.

Ah, right.

Lucas cleared his throat and gestured to the nervous wrecks around him. “I wanted to introduce you to my friends. The twins in the coats are Nana and Popo, the tall one with the hat is Red, and the short one with the hat is Ness. Guys, this is my dad, Flint. The inferior bundle of cells is Claus, my twin.”

Claus opened his mouth to retaliate, but Flint acted first.

Flint tipped his hat and nodded a greeting to the four. Nana and Popo waved back, their movements frenzied with excitement, and Red tipped his cap back, happy there was another quiet person in the mansion. Ness smiled and waved, but their psychic link went wild with anxiety.

On the other hand, Claus was already personally approaching every character, asking them questions about who they were and what they thought of the tournament and what their favorite food was. Nana and Popo answered the questions with as much enthusiasm as Claus posed them while Red looked like he would rather be anywhere else. Claus got the hint and moved onto his next unfortunate victim.

“Hey!” Claus said, seating himself across from Ness. “You’re the one who uses PSI too, right?”

A twang of horror ripped through their psychic link, and Lucas found himself flinching at the feeling. 

“How did you know?” Ness asked.

“PSI user to PSI user. I can feel it. And you must be pretty powerful if I’m feeling it this intensely.”

“The PSI Powerhouse,” Popo teased before his sister flicked the side of his head.

Claus leaned forward, ignorant of the disastrous ball of worry in front of him. “So? What can you use? Aside from your battle moves, obviously.”

Ness took a moment to think. “Mostly just assist and healing PSI. The only offensive one I know is PK Rockin’.” 

“Dang, that sounds so much cooler than ours. Lucas and I use PK Love.”

“What does PK Love do?”

“It destroys our enemies.”

“... Noted.”

While Lucas felt bad for springing something he hadn’t discussed with Ness onto him, it was necessary. He cleared his throat, drawing everyone’s attention to him. “Claus, Ness, you two seem to get along. Why don’t you two play baseball outside while I talk to Dad? Ness, you can show him around the mansion, too.”

Claus agreed happily, being someone who never passed up the opportunity to meet new people and see new places. As far as Lucas knew, Ness was the same. Just not at this moment.

“Sure. But what’s baseball?” Claus asked.

Ness stood up from his seat and slung his bat over his shoulder, his body relaxing at the mention of the familiar sport. “I’ll teach you. Let’s go outside.”

Claus stood up as well, then turned to Lucas. “Let me know if you need anything, Lucas. Like, text me, call me, shout my name, summon me with a stone.”

Lucas rolled his eyes but couldn’t help the chuckle that escaped his lips. “Sure.”

“Whatever you need. See you later.” With that, the two walked out of the mansion, Claus chattering away while Ness fought to search for the correct words to reply with. Seeing Ness so speechless was definitely a sight all right. It looked like he had met his match in energy.

Popo, Nana, and Red left as well after sensing the building tension. They bid Lucas a farewell and Flint a nice stay before leaving.

Soon, Flint and Lucas were alone in the canteen.

Flint took a seat across from Lucas. “So, you mind explaining to me all that subspace jazz I heard about?”

Straight to business. Typical of him.

“Does Claus know?” Lucas asked

“Heck no. Boy would be freaking out and demanding to go there himself.”

Lucas chuckled, though it lacked warmth. They both knew what had happened last time Claus had attempted to exact revenge on someone. “Well, it started like this…”

 

* * *

It was evening by the time Lucas had finished explaining everything that had happened in the last few months. And for those hours, Flint had listened to every word, nodding along and adding commentary at the appropriate moments. Not once did his attention waver, even when other Smashers stepped in for food.

Flint took in a deep breath when Lucas finished. “You’ve been through a lot these past couple’a months, haven’t you?”

Lucas shrugged. “I guess so. Are you worried or something?”

“Not at all. You’re a capable young man; I trust you can handle yourself.”

And there was the sentence that brought closure to years of continued suffering. Perhaps it had been purposely worded like so, or perhaps he had just said what came to mind. Either way, a weight lifted off Lucas’s chest and ascended, never to be seen again at its full oppressiveness.

Lucas mustered a smile. “Thanks, Dad.”

“No problem, son. But…” Flint furrowed his eyebrows. “What’s with that Ness kid? You seemed awfully pushy trying to get him and Claus to play together.”

“I just think they’re really alike,” Lucas said, his words well-practiced and calm. He fought to keep his heart’s pounds to a minimum, if that was even possible. “They’re both outgoing, friendly, kind… I just thought they needed some friends.”

Luckily, Flint seemed to have bought his explanation with a satisfied nod. Still, the expression on his face was a peculiar one Lucas couldn’t quite place. “And you know that the whole Dark Dragon situation… that was supposed to teach us forgiveness, right? Being kind to everyone, always striving to be the best person you can… I think that’s what your mother wanted.”

Suspiciously philosophical lessons aside, Lucas looked down and watched PSI dance at his fingertips. He smiled. “Yeah. I think that’s what she would have wanted, too—” He clutched his head, screwing his eyes shut as a wave of pain passed through it.

Flint stood up from his chair. “Lucas? Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Lucas said, “Just give it some time.” His grip relaxed, but the pain remained as present as ever, pounding away at his head.

Ness’s side of the psychic link was going wild. Fear flooded down the link in droves, followed with the familiar burns of regret and despair. It pulsed like a heart rate reader at a hospital, and Lucas fought to resist the need to shut the link. Ness needed an outlet, especially for emotions as intense as these.

So he waited.   
Waited.

And waited.

Then everything stopped. Blankness buzzed in his head for a stiff moment before relief washed in like cool air in the middle of summer. The burns faded. Joy sparked through the link, so infectious Lucas couldn’t help but grin.

“Is everything alright?” Flint asked.

Lucas nodded. “Yup. Even better than I was expecting.”

 

* * *

Lucas had waved his farewells to his family with a heavy heart and promise to call more often. It had felt like a part of him died when he was forced to watch his family walk down the road and to the airport, but their brief meeting had only assured him they would always be with him.

He plucked a sunflower from the ground before returning inside the mansion. He shouldn’t dwell on that for too long. After all, he still had matches today.

The mansion, while comparatively still livelier than when Lucas had first entered, was quiet. That made sense, he supposed. It was the last day of the family visitation period; the other fighters were probably trying to process it. 

Lucas smiled when Ness waved at him from down the hallway. “Hey. What are you doing up so early?”

“Had to comfort Luigi,” Ness said with a shrug. “He doesn’t do so well after his parents leave. What about you?”

“Said bye to my family.” Lucas held back a sigh at the hint of regret wavering in their psychic link. “It’s not really that big of a deal. Besides, didn’t you have to say bye to your family yesterday?”

“Yeah, but… Okay. I guess you’re right.”

Lucas didn’t know there was anything to be right about, but he accepted it anyway. His stare moved down to the sunflower in his hand, and his lips tugged down into a frown. Why had he taken this? He had no need for it. On the other hand, if Ness was still homesick…

“Here, take this,” Lucas said, holding the flower out to him.

Ness took it with a confused face. “Why?”

“My family likes sunflowers. We seem to like you well enough, too.”

Surprise popped across their link before Ness shut it abruptly. Still, their link wasn’t their only means of communication; Lucas caught Ness’s face flush red for a split second before returning to its normal color. Ness shot him an apologetic grin before it faded into a more serious expression. “I know your brother knows, and he told me he forgives me. But what about…”

“He didn’t say it outright, but I think my dad knows, too. Said something about forgiveness and love. I don’t remember our conversation too well.”

“How did he find out about it?”

“I told him about what happened in subspace. He might’ve worked it out from that, but he wasn’t mad or anything.” Lucas giggled at the relief washing over Ness’s face. “See? It turned out okay.”

Ness smiled, and he ran his thumb along the stem of the sunflower. His eyes were less overtly bright, but they still glimmered like moonlight. “Yeah, it did. Thanks, Lucas.”

“So, are we good now?”

“We’re good.”

 

* * *

Lucas’s relationships had only grown stronger as his weeks in the Smash Mansion continued. He had wrecked the coffee machine multiple times with Pikachu (much to the chagrin of everyone else who lived off caffeine), stayed up long nights with Samus, meditated with Lucario, handfed Red’s pokémon, and even climbed the Glacial Peak a few more times with the Ice Climbers. He had never expected to become friends with so many interesting characters, but here he was.

And of course, Ness was there, too.

“So, in your universe… you ate burgers from trash cans?”

Ness shrugged as if that was an everyday thing, and to be fair, it might have been to him. “I mean, yeah. You gotta do what you gotta do.”

Now that they both had closure, they were able to put their past aside and relax as friends. Though with the things Ness was telling him about his universe, Lucas wasn’t sure if that was a good or bad thing.

Lucas snorted, covering up a laugh that threatened to escape. “Ness, you’re ridiculous.”

“Yeah, my friends told me that, too. But joke’s on them, those burgers were delicious. You should try it sometime.”

“No thanks.” Still, he cracked a smile as Ness continued to ramble on about some runaway band he had met on his adventure.

This was nice. Life almost felt ordinary.

 

* * *

 

After a match of getting his ass kicked by the Falcon duo (a name both Captain Falcon and Falco loathed with every bit of their being), Lucas plopped onto the couch in the canteen next to Ness with a sigh.

Ness almost laughed at the other’s state before wrapping his arm around Lucas’s shoulders and bringing him closer. “Hey, bud. What’s wrong?”

“Got three-stocked by the Falcons in less than two minutes,” Lucas groaned. He set his head on the other’s shoulder and took the opportunity to close his eyes, his body aching from the fight.

“Aw, that sucks. Getting three-stocked always hurts. Who was your partner?”

“Yoshi.”

“Did you learn from the fight?”

Lucas frowned. “I mean, yeah, I guess.”

“Then it was a good fight,” Ness said. “They’ve been fighting for way longer than you have. Don’t beat yourself over it.”

“I’m not.”

“Sounds like you are.”

Lucas separated himself from Ness and opened his eyes, about to deny his claim once more, before freezing.

Lucas had always liked sunny things; he supposed Ness was no exception. Ness stared back at him with a bright smile and eyes crinkled in amusement. His eyes glittered, and Lucas only now realized they were a deep shade of purple. Hell, even his demeanor was sunny. Being around him made Lucas feel lighter, like he could lift off the ground at any moment and still be happy.

“Lucas? Are you feeling alright?”

Lucas snapped out of his trance, but the sunny aura around the other didn’t fade. “Yeah, just zoned out. Sorry about that.”

“It happens.” Ness gestured towards the television screen. “Wanna watch the next round with me?”

“Who’s on?”

“King Dedede and Donkey Kong.”

Lucas wasn’t too intrigued by the match, but he figured he had nothing else to do. So he kicked back and watched the match, smiling at his friend’s excitement and his trance long forgotten.

 

* * *

Messing with their psychic link was slowly becoming Lucas’s favorite hobby, especially when Ness was in the same room as him.

A group of Smashers were seated around a table in the recreation room, holding a number of Uno cards. Meta Knight had been knocked out of the game relatively early, having given up after being delivered a plus twelve (which Lucas didn’t blame him for). Kirby had somehow won five turns into the game, and everyone remaining was scrambling for second place.

A flash of smugness passed through the psychic link when Ness turned a plus two card around on Red, who accepted his fate without a word. It was replaced with amusement when Ness caught Lucas in his mind. They were smart enough to close the link concerning thoughts, but they figured emotions wouldn’t interfere with the game.

At least, that was the case until a few turns later.

Lucas’s face remained blank, but he internally rejoiced upon seeing the previous characters before him stack the to-draw deck to eight cards. Popo and Nana gasped at the sheer amount of cards while Fox, the character who had passed the fate onto him, smirked.

Ness shuffled in his seat, hiding his cards. “Uh… Lucas? Buddy?”

Lucas turned to him with a calm smile. “Yes?”

“Have mercy on this soul.”

Lucas responded by placing a plus four card down.

A wave of both despair and amusement smacked the link, sending both Lucas and Ness into a fit of laughter. The other fighters laughed as Ness dramatically slumped over the table and drew twelve cards one by one.

Ness sat up once he drew all twelve cards, then shot Lucas a wink before throwing down a plus two card.

Lucas chuckled as the round of plus twos started once more, then shut down their link before the warmth inside his chest could invade the other side. He only smiled when Ness shot him a confused glance. Hopefully the confusing warmth would go away soon.

(It didn’t.)

 

* * *

It was rare Lucas and the Ice Climbers would have enough room in their schedules to actually sit down and have lunch together, but when they did, the Ice Climbers always insisted on dragging him back up to Glacial Peak again. But Lucas didn’t complain; while the cold still annoyed him, the threat of death was less and less imminent until he wasn’t afraid of going on top of the mountain at all.

Now, Lucas laughed as Nana recalled their last match against Olimar and how annoyed he looked when they destroyed his pikmin. Popo supplemented the story by wrinkling his face into exaggerated expressions. Their actual food went mostly ignored until Lucas pointed out it was already cold.

Popo bit into a tomato, and Lucas felt his soul descend to hell. “Oh, yeah, we went on a shopping trip with Ness the other day. And by that, I mean we teleported off the island and accidentally landed in some city.”

Lucas raised an eyebrow. “Is that allowed?”

“Well… yes, but no.”

“Ness is allowed to teleport, but only to his hometown,” Nana said, “That’s only once in a while, too. But if Master Hand caught us, we could just say Ness’s teleportation messed up.”

Lucas thought back to Master Hand’s omnipresent, almost godlike state. “Somehow, I think he may already know and just not care.”

“Whatever you say. But most of the ‘trip’ was just Ness pointing out random things and saying they reminded him of you.”

“What?”

Popo scoffed and sipped at his water bottle before elaborating on Nana’s words. “He pointed out a sunflower, which was the most obvious one. Then we saw some guy wearing a striped shirt, a library—”

“A library?”

“Ness said you struck him as the kind of person who likes to read. And honestly, I agree.”

With that, the conversation shifted to Nana and Popo speculating on what kind of hobbies Lucas had (and when Lucas told them he liked to garden and help his father on the farm, neither of the two believed him).

Lucas’s thoughts returned to what Nana and Popo had told him, even after they left the Glacial Peak. He flopped onto his bed and shielded his eyes with a pillow, careful to close their psychic link without shutting it down hard enough for Ness to notice.

This wasn’t the first time Lucas had heard somebody talked about him frequently. After all, his brother did the exact same thing almost every day in the village while he was gone. But he didn’t get the same brotherly affection feeling from it. It was something different Lucas had never encountered before. All he knew was the feeling made him smile and his heart feel fuzzy in a way that wasn’t entirely bad.

Lucas drifted to sleep with his blankets bunched close to his heart.

 

* * *

It was one in the morning when Lucas found himself drifting into the kitchen, his mind numb after a nightmare he hadn’t had in years.

Despite the mansion being in complete darkness otherwise, the kitchen was dimly lit with a few other fighters already gathered there. Some spoke quietly while others stayed silent. It was a rare moment of peace among them.

One of the fighters caught his presence. “Hey. You’ve got nightmares, too? Come here.”

That was Snake. What was he doing being up so late at night? And for that matter, what was everyone else doing?

Lucas stepped forward, his curiosity winning out over the remains of his anxiety left from the nightmare. Though the figures were tough to make out from the dim lighting, it was light enough he could recognize Samus seated on top of the counter picking at her fingernails, Snake standing in the corner, and curiously, Fox and Falco leaning against the wall next to each other with crossed arms.

Lucas wouldn’t ask why they were here, and they wouldn’t ask either. Still, Fox caught his curious gaze and spoke.

“Master Hand said he’s considering recruiting our rival to the tournament. You can imagine why we can’t sleep.”

Lucas nodded in understanding. The subject of his nightmare had already come to haunt him in this universe, though he would never be able to understand the full extent of their situation.

Snake reached into the refrigerator and pulled out a carton of milk. He poured it into a glass, then held it out to Lucas. “Drink up, kid. Hydration is no joke.”

“You’ve gotta warm it up for the kid first,” Falco chided.

“We didn’t have this kind of fancy tech on the battlefield.”

“Does this look like a battlefield to you? And what to you mean you didn’t have microwaves?”

Lucas was sixteen, but he could keep that to himself if it meant seeing them argue over something as inconsequential as milk. He exchanged an amused glance with Samus and Fox.

Snake sighed. “Fine. You do it.”

Falco snatched the cup away from him and set it in the microwave, the buttons beeping as he pressed specific numbers. Snake put the milk carton back into the fridge.

Half a minute passed before Falco took the cup of milk out of the microwave and handed it to Lucas. “Here. Be careful, it might a be a little hot.”

Lucas thanked both Snake and Falco before taking the cup in his hands. The warmth blanketed over the numbness, and he felt better without even taking a single sip. Solidarity was a powerful force.

Soft, hesitant footsteps approached.

Samus cracked a smile. “Good morning, Ness. You want your usual?”

Ness stepped into the dim lighting, a smile tugging at his lips. “Always. Thanks, Samus.”

Samus hummed in acknowledgement before flicking the kettle’s power on. She reached into the pantry, pulled out a cup of instant noodles, and tore the plastic off.

Lucas watched the scene curiously. It would be invasive to probe into his friend’s thoughts and feelings after he presumably had a nightmare. So what should he do?

Thankfully, Ness absolved him of any need to make a first move when he turned to Lucas and offered him a small smile.  _ Hey. Early bird gets the worm, am I right? _

Lucas stifled a laugh. They probably looked goofy making faces at each other, but he couldn’t find it in himself to care.  _ Yeah. Is this a regular thing? _

_ It was in the first few tournaments when I was really homesick. This is the first time I’ve gone to this since the beginning of this one, though. _

Lucas thought back to Nana’s offhand comment about him making Ness feel less homesick, thankful their link didn’t catch onto scenes as well as it did verbal thoughts.

“Here.” Samus stuck a pair of chopsticks into the cup of instant noodles, then pushed it towards Ness.

Ness took a jar out of the pantry and sprinkled its contents into the noodles. He paused before taking a ketchup packet from the counter. He tore the corner open and poured it into the noodles with the contents of the jar.

Lucas exchanged a glance with the other three. It was hard not to judge him for his horrible taste. Very, very hard.

Ness turned to the others with the cup of noodles in hand and laughed at their expressions. “I know it sounds a little weird, but I swear it tastes good.”

“What was in the jar?” Fox asked. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“Delisauce. It’s from a place called Dalaam in my universe.” He tilted his gaze down at the colorful sprinkles. “Reminds me of an important friend.”

Did he have a nightmare or was he homesick? But if he was homesick, why eat something from Dalaam instead of Onett? Ultimately, it didn’t matter. Ness was still hurting.

Lucas set a hand on his shoulder and offered him a gentle smile. His voice was soft as he spoke. “I’m sure you’ll see them again.”

Ness stared at him for a tense moment, frozen, before his eyes filled with adoration and his lips curved into a warm smile. “You’re right. Thanks, Lucas.”

Lucas’s heart leaped. He reluctantly tore his hand away and sipped at the cup of milk in his hands. His palm burned from both the contact and the heated milk.

But this was nice. Standing in silence with five people, one of whom was one of his closest friends, was a much more meditative experience than he thought it would be. The memories were still present, but instead haunting, they followed at a distance.

The silence was calming.

 

* * *

It was always a rush to see new match listings. This one was no exception.

The fighters chattered among themselves while waiting for their turn to see the new listings. Lucas stood in the crowd with Ness dragging him along, rambling on about his predictions on who would fight who. From the tiniest bit Lucas could see in the distance, Ness was completely wrong, but it was fun listening nonetheless.

Eventually, they were next in line to see the match listings. They looked under the first day, only to see them paired against Ike and Marth.

Lucas gulped. He and Ness were already weak against characters with swords in the first place; fighting against both of them as a pair would be a challenge, especially with how close they were after subspace.

Ness glanced at him, then smiled and squeezed his hand. “Don’t worry, I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

That smile. It rendered him speechless.

“Lucas? You okay?”

Before Lucas could respond, the pair behind them groaned.

“Damn,” Ike mumbled, “And I was on a winning streak, too.”

Marth offered Ness and Lucas a polite smile. “I’m certain this match will be quite a challenge for us. I look forward to our battle.”

Lucas blinked. “Wait. You two think we’ll be a challenge?”

“Of course. You two are the most familiar with each other’s abilities in this entire mansion, no?”

“Not to mention you’ve got that psychic link thing going on,” Ike added.

Now that he thought about it, they weren’t wrong. While they had some similar moves, they had spent enough time in the training rooms together for Lucas to know their differences by instinct. Their link was a huge aid during team battles as well. In fact, they were considered one of the more frustrating pairs to fight in the mansion for that reason.

Marth unsheathed his sword and put a hand on Ike’s shoulder. “Come, we should train.” He offered Lucas and Ness one last kind smile before walking outside the mansion with Ike.

Ness watched them walk away before turning to Lucas with a new shine in his eyes. “Come on, Lucas, we should train, too.”

Lucas tightened his grip on the other’s hand before following him to the training rooms.

(For the record, they lost, but not without putting up a good fight. Lucas was proud, even with the loss, and he tried not to think about the pounding heart in his chest when Ness hugged him.)

 

* * *

 

“What does it mean when you think about someone a lot?”

Red raised an eyebrow and lifted his back off the couch. “Why are you asking me of all people?”

Lucas shrugged.

The two were seated on a couch in Red’s room with Squirtle curled into his shell between them, sleeping after being fed by Lucas. Lucas’s hand was still slimy from the pokéblocks he had used to feed Squirtle (and Red had laughed at his wrinkled nose and called him weak. Asshole). Red’s backpack lied on the ground, its contents emptied out when Squirtle had rummaged through it to get the canister of pokéblocks. In fact, the potions and items inside were still scattered across the ground. Organize your mess, Red.

But even with that distraction, Lucas’s thoughts couldn’t help but keep returning to one person.

“I don’t know,” Lucas said, “I guess I thought you would be smarter than the Ice Climbers or Yoshi. And I’m pretty sure Samus and Pikachu don’t want me bothering them with this…”

Red raised a palm. “It’s not a bother. But yeah, I see your point. I just don’t know why you chose the guy who isolated himself for years on top of a mountain to ask instead of literally anyone else.”

“Are you roasting yourself?”

“I guess.” Red paused. “But back on topic. You said you think a lot about someone, right?”

Lucas nodded.

“I wouldn’t know, but everyone time I heard one of my friends say that, it’s because they want to be their friend, really admire them, or are in love with them.”

Well, that narrowed things down much more than stewing in his thoughts did. It couldn’t be the first one, as the two were already friends. He was placing his bets on the second, though he had to admit everything made more sense in the context of the third option. Not to mention all the weird flips his heart and stomach had been doing for the past month…

Oh no.

Lucas’s face flushed, and he frowned at the smug smirk on Red’s face. “It’s the second one.”

Red bit back a laugh. “Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

“Absolutely sure?”

“Yes!”

“I don’t know.”

“Oh, shut it,” Lucas huffed. His furrowed eyebrows unwrinkled when Squirtle peeked out of its shell, undoubtedly wondering where all the sound was coming from.

Red stayed silent before Squirtle retreated back into its shell. His voice was quieter, but it still retained the same smugness it had before. “It’s Ness, isn’t it?”

Alarms rang in Lucas’s head. Was it really that obvious? “No.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

Red raised his palms. “Alright, I won’t force you to say it.”

What was there to say? Lucas had come into this conversation expecting a reasonable answer he had already considered, but Red had thrown him a curveball so unexpected he might as well have been playing a whole other sport. Being accused of being in love with his friend wasn’t one of his original considerations, but it made more sense with each passing second, and Lucas was terrified.

Lucas kicked his shoes off and brought his knees to his chest, his heart pounding against his knees. He needed to think about the third option more, but he knew the first and second were true. Still, some confirmation would be nice. “But… in the case it is, would you say he admires me, too?”

Red’s smirk softened into a smile, and the smug expression on his face faded into a more caring one. “Definitely.”

 

* * *

From Tazmily Village’s short time industrialized, Lucas had watched a fair amount of movies, some of them being romance. He had to admit he had given some thought into how he himself would fall in love. He just didn’t expect to realize Red had been completely right about his feelings while in pajamas, watching a shitty comedy film while Ness counted how many bread rolls he could fit into his mouth.

The movie became a drone in the background. Light from the television screen illuminated the outline of Ness’s smile, and the rest of the world faded around them. If every day were like this, Lucas couldn’t complain.

Finally, Ness spat the bread rolls into a nearby trash can and wiped his mouth with a napkin. Once he cleaned himself up, he turned to Lucas and grinned. “Six bread rolls. Kirby could beat me every way to Sunday, but it’s still impressive, right?”

Lucas liked the sun. He had never registered just how sunny Ness was until now.

“Lucas?” Ness frowned and waved a hand in front of his face. “You’re looking at me like you just found another world.”

_ I think I may have. _

“Huh?”

Fuck. Their psychic link wasn’t blocked (which brought up the question of how Ness was still completely oblivious to Lucas’s surge of feelings, but he supposed that was just the type of person he was).

Lucas smiled. “Don’t worry about it.”

With that, Ness turned back to the screen and poked fun at one of the character’s acting skills. Lucas hadn’t caught the moment of supposedly bad acting, but he laughed along anyway, his heart pounding. Still, he couldn’t help but laugh along.

Life felt ordinary with him, damned feelings or no.

 

* * *

 

It was after Lucas had exited another team battle and his gaze had lingered on Ness’s retreating figure for too long when he realized his mistake.

The Ice Climbers stared slack-jawed at him while Red stared ahead with his usual blank face. Lucas supposed those expressions were normal, but there was something about the smug grin slowly rising on Nana’s face—

“You like him, don’t you?”

Yeah, Lucas figured that would happen. Damn you, Nana.

Lucas shrugged, thankful his psychic link was still shut off from the battle. “Of course. He’s my friend.”

Red raised an eyebrow as if to say,  _ Really? _

Nana and Popo leveled equally unamused faces at him.

Lucas sighed. While he knew the three were trustworthy enough to keep their mouths shut, it was difficult to admit to himself, nevermind other people. But if they had figured it out already, what was the point of keeping it a secret? “Okay, fine. You already know what I’m going to say.”

Popo sniffed and dramatically draped himself over Nana. “I never thought I’d see the day… The Ice Prince has finally fallen in love.”

“No part of that sentence was accurate.”

“I know. I just heard it in a movie once and really wanted an excuse to say it.”

Nana shrugged her brother off her, too wrapped up in the conversation to shoot him a glare. Her eyes were bright, and her lips curved into a matching smile. “So? Are you gonna tell him?”

Lucas scrunched his face. “What? Of course not.”

“Why not? He obviously likes you.”

“One, I’m not so sure about that. Two, we’re in different universes. How could it ever work out?”

Nana and Popo deflated.

Lucas flinched at his own words. He had known those two facts for a while now, but it had never completely registered until he said it out loud. And in Ness’s dimension, he was a hero. He would be expected to continue putting his life on the line to save whatever it was that needed saving, and there was no guarantee he would live to see the next day. Could Lucas handle that loss again?

His heart ached, and he wanted nothing more than to retreat under his covers and hide from the rest of the world. At least then he wouldn’t have to see Ness’s face.

“... Lucas,” Red called. His eyebrows were furrowed even though he had every right to be smug. “I was separated from my family for years, but they still accepted me. They were willing to wait that long just to get a chance to see my face again.” He paused, shifting his gaze to the ground. “I’m not saying it’s the same thing, but just think about it, okay? If someone is that important to you… I think it’s a good idea to at least try it.”

Despite the hurt wrapped around his heart, Lucas found it in himself to smile. Pride swelled in his chest. He was proud of his friend. So, so proud. If Red could change this much over a period of less than a year, maybe Lucas should trust in him.

Nana, Popo, and Red awaited his reaction with bated breath.

“I’ll…” Lucas raised his head. “I’ll think about it.”

 

* * *

“I like you.”

It was two in the morning. Lucas, being himself, was still awake at that time, but that didn’t mean he wanted to hear someone knocking on his door then for Ness to suddenly drop that bomb on him.

Feelings were overrated, and Lucas wanted to throw them into a trash can where they belonged. They had no right to leap on him like that, in the same sense Ness had no right to confess to him so suddenly (technically he didn’t  _ not _ have that right, but that wasn’t the point).

Lucas didn’t know what to think. Was Ness looking for confirmation they were indeed friends or was he requesting to be something else? Best friends? Maybe even—

He shouldn’t get his hopes up like that.

“I like you, too, I guess,” Lucas said carefully, “You’re my friend, of course I do.”

Ness’s determined expression collapsed into one of disappointment and bafflement. He stumbled over his words for a moment before pausing and finally speaking coherently. “Lucas, that’s not what I meant.”

“You like me as a best friend?”

“You’re just gonna make me come out and say it, huh?” Ness groaned. He rubbed his hands against his face before looking back up at Lucas with a flushed face. “I like you. Romantically. It took me way too long to figure that out, but these are my feelings.”

Lucas blinked. He stood still as he processed the words, his face slowly growing redder and redder.

And of course, Ness’s nervous habits chose that moment to kick in, and he scrambled to elaborate. “I mean, not that you have to reciprocate. It’s fine if you want to be friends. It’s also fine if you don’t want to be friends. I understand. I would, um, appreciate if we did stay friends, but it’s all your choice. Don’t feel pressured or anything.” He only faltered upon seeing the blank expression on Lucas’s face. “I’ll just… shut up now.” He crossed his arms tightly around himself and looked down at the floor.

Was this actually happening right now? Was he dreaming?

Lucas pinched his arm and frowned upon realizing Ness was still in front of him. No, this wasn’t a dream. But if it wasn’t a dream, he should probably answer.

“Ness,” Lucas called, still wavering between a truth or an excuse. Truth or excuse? Truth or excu—

Ness looked back up at him with a hopeful glint in his eyes.

Truth, it was.

Lucas’s throat tightened, and his gut wrenched despite already knowing the other’s feelings. Why was this so hard? “I… I like you, too. Romantically, that is. But…”

“But?”

“I don’t know if I can get involved like that with someone from another universe.” He winced when Ness’s face fell. “I’m sorry, but could you give me time to think about it? I really do like you, but I can’t ignore that.”

Ness gave him a weak smile. “Yeah. Take as much time as you need. Just talk to me when you have your answer, okay?”

“Okay. Goodnight, Ness.”

“Goodnight.” And with that, Ness shut the door and walked back to his own room.

Lucas flopped down on his bed and silently screamed into his pillow.

* * *

 

Surprisingly, the next day was normal. If it hadn’t been for Ness avoiding touching him like he had the plague, Lucas would’ve thought last night was some kind of fucked up fever dream.

And even more surprisingly, Yoshi was the only one who noticed. After Ness walked away from their team battle without so much as giving Lucas a congratulatory handshake (though he gave everyone else victory hugs. Lucas hated that he found himself yearning for one of them), Yoshi nudged Lucas with an elbow and said,  _ Are you and your friend all right? _

Lucas mustered up a weak smile. “Yeah. Just going through some things in our relationship. Nothing time can’t solve.”

_ I hope so. You two seem close. _ And with that, Yoshi bounced away towards Mario and Peach, who were awaiting their turn on the stadium.

Lucas sighed, then walked out of the mansion. He couldn’t think inside such a chaotic environment.

Luckily, the other fighters were (albeit unknowingly) considerate enough to have stayed inside for most of the day. In any other circumstance, Lucas would have been delighted with the weather; the sun shined brilliantly against a blue canvas, small, puffy clouds floated by, and a gentle breeze tickled his skin. But he didn’t pay any attention to that—he couldn’t. Everything just seemed to remind him of the same person he had been thinking of for at least half the day, if not more.

Despite the physical distance Ness had placed in between them, his attitude was still as sunny as ever, not hesitating to crack a joke or laugh along with one Lucas said. And with Yoshi’s comment, their situation was clear: in the case Lucas rejected him, they could go back to being friends. It was nice to have that option as a failsafe.

But were they close enough for their bond to survive being stretched over multiple universes? They had over a year left of this tournament. Lucas had no doubt being in a relationship with him would be fun; their friendship was fun enough, and the thought of adding a new dimension to that bond made his heart flutter. Not to mention they would be seeing each other again, too. It wasn’t like this tournament was the last of its kind.

All his friends seemed to think he should take the risk. Maybe he should get another perspective.

 

* * *

 

_ Should I go out with a guy from another universe? _

Claus’s response was immediate.  _ Nice hypotheticals, Lucas. _

Ah, instant messaging. The invention that allowed Claus to sass him whenever he wanted and for Lucas to do the same to him back.

Lucas sent a message back.  _ I’m serious this time. My friend asked me to date him, but he’s from another universe. _

_ I don’t see the problem here. _

_ I’ve been told long distance is tough enough. Imagine that, but with different dimensions. _

_ Maybe, but you’re a tough person. _

Lucas stopped, his thumbs hovering over the phone screen.

While it wasn’t rare for Claus to toss him the occasional compliment, his words were always genuine (a product of both their past and the fact Lucas would call him out on lies immediately. Claus was just as horrible at lying as Lucas was). So if Claus believed he was strong enough to pull through, maybe he was.

But then again, they were twins. Not to mention Claus didn’t have the entire story. Lucas needed another perspective.

_ I’ll text you later, _ Lucas typed.  _ Goodnight. _

And in true Claus fashion, he replied,  _ Good morning from over here lol. _

 

* * *

 

“You said you wanted to talk to me?”

“Yes.”

“And this couldn’t have waited until literally any other time?”

“You’re forgetting you’re the one who confessed to me at two in the morning first.”

“Ah. Touché.”

Lucas shuffled his feet as he was ushered into Ness’s room, cursing himself for not having planned out a speech before deciding to approach him. What was he going to say? What was he even supposed to say?

And it was indeed two in the morning, the perfect time to have serious conversations about their futures. Even if Ness was the first to make that dumb move, Lucas was also a fool for making the same one.

Ness shut the door behind him and offered him a kind smile. “Just say what you want. Nobody but me is gonna hear it, and you know I won’t judge you for anything.”

“Not even for absorbing your recovery?”

“I know you’re just trying to put off saying what you need to say, but I will admit that was clever.”

Dread knotted in Lucas’s stomach. He could stall the conversation all he wanted, but he still had to face reality. “You, uh… You might wanna sit down for this one.”

Ness tilted his head in confusion but sat down on his bed anyway. He waited for Lucas to join him on the bed before speaking. “What’s up?”

“I…” Lucas sighed and looked straight into the other’s eyes. “Listen, I’m just gonna say it. Do you think a relationship between us could survive even after we leave the tournament?”

Ness blinked, then sharply inhaled. “That’s… a heavy question for two in the morning.”

“I know. Sorry.”

“Nah, don’t worry about it. I knew it was coming up soon.” Ness took a moment to think. “I think we’re both determined enough to make it work. I mean, look at what we’ve been through in our universes. I know it’s kind of unfamiliar territory, but we’ve both tried weirder things.” He turned to Lucas. “It’s still your choice, though. Don’t let me talk you into a decision you’re not a hundred percent on board with.”

Lucas stared as Ness continued rambling.

Ness had been willing to throw his life away for him since day one. That was just the kind of reckless person he was. In a way, Lucas could see why others would call him a bit reckless, too; going on a journey to a land far outside his village based on a rumor probably wasn’t the smartest choice. Combined together, they were reckless enough to pursue a relationship that transcended universes. It wouldn’t be a normal relationship by any means, but Lucas wasn’t afraid to admit being around Ness made him feel more normal, like life was truly ordinary. And in his eyes, ordinary was underrated.

Lucas’s heart fluttered when he thought about all the possibilities of their relationship. So many things could go wrong, but so many other things could go right. Those things were worth taking a risk for. And judging by the sheer amount of love and affection being shared among the two through their link, they were willing to take that risk.

“Ness.”

Ness immediately shut his mouth, staring at Lucas expectantly.

Lucas smiled and clasped his hand. “I would love to be your boyfriend. But only if…

“If?”

“You would be mine.”

The half-shocked, half-delighted expression on Ness’s face drew laughter from Lucas. Ness’s face was redder than his cap, but his glee couldn’t be mistaken for anything else. His grin shined brighter than the sun as he took Lucas’s other hand in his. “Lucas, you’re such a sap. Of course.”

Lucas’s heart exploded. The sky could have struck him down at that moment, and he would die happy. He felt so light he could fly away with the cold breeze from the air conditioner on the ceiling.

Maybe this wasn’t the most romantic setting. But it was enough for Lucas.

Then he remembered a key detail.

“Ness,” Lucas called, “You have a tournament tomorrow at eight in the morning, you knucklehead. Go to sleep.”

Ness’s eyes sparkled with mischief. “Oh, I don’t know. I think the events of today were too exciting for me to go back to sleep just like that. But a battle would tire me out.”

“The first thing you ask to do after you get a boyfriend is to battle him?”

“I mean… it would be nice if I could kiss you, too.”

Lucas’s face flushed red, but he couldn’t deny the excitement prickling at his skin at the thought. Before either of the two could doubt themselves, he leaned in and crashed their lips together.

That was a horrible idea. Their noses bumped and their teeth clashed as a result of that, and the way Ness’s grip on his hands grew tighter told Lucas he wasn’t the only one who felt that was a bit more painful than he would’ve liked his first kiss to be. But once they found their footing— hands clasped together, heads tilted, soft lips pressed against the other— Lucas wondered why it had taken him this long to admit his own feelings to himself.

Ness was the first to pull away, beaming like a lovestruck dork (though to be fair, Lucas was certain he looked the same way). He pressed a kiss against the back of Lucas’s hand and said, “Come with me to the training rooms?”

Lucas dared to press a kiss against Ness’s cheek, giggling when he was rewarded with Ness’s face growing even redder than before. “Of course.”

The two walked towards the training rooms together, careful to keep their voices low enough to not disturb the other fighters. The training rooms were across the building; they still had a long way to go.

Ness’s hand hesitated before taking hold of Lucas’s.

Lucas smiled and weaved their fingers together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i fully expected this threeshot to be 10k-15k words but uh. 30k. this chapter is around half of that. im sorry
> 
> if you have any questions or would like to discuss anything from this fic (or really anything at all), dont hesitate to comment or contact me. thank you all for sticking with me through my first fic in this fandom.


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